Lot 3619. A superb and very rare underglaze-blue and enamelled 'dragon' box and cover, Mark and period of Jiajing (1522-1566), 16 cm, 6 1/4  in. Estimate HKD 4,000,000 — 6,000,000). Lot sold HKD 7,900,000.  Photo: Sotheby's.

of square quatrelobed form, the box potted with bombé sides resting on a short foot, the exterior decorated with four yellow-enamelled dragons soaring sinuously amidst sprays of lingzhi fungus, a key-fret band painted bordering the straight rim and repeated at the rim of the well-fitted cover, the cover with a rounded border similarly decorated with four writhing dragons, surrounding a raised quatrelobed panel enclosing a coiling dragon wreathed by lingzhi fungus, the designs all defined and accentuated with iron-red lines and reserved against an underglaze-blue ground, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark  

Provenance: Collection of J.M. Hu (1911-95).
Sotheby's New York, 4th June 1985, lot 10.

Note: Contrasting colours and motifs with imperial and auspicious connotations are two of the most characteristic features of Jiajing imperial porcelains. The juxtaposition of the imperial five-clawed dragons with sprays of lingzhi fungus on the present box, instead of the usual lotus scrolls, reflects the Jiajing Emperor’s fervent pursuit of longevity and attachment to Daoist practices promising the attainment of immortality. The theme is carried through even in the colour scheme, with yellow being the colour associated with the emperor.

Richly coloured porcelain brimming with emblematic designs also fitted with the Jiajing Emperor’s love of opulence, which is documented through lavish commissions of buildings and ceremonies of Daoist worship where pearls, ambergris and gold are said to have been used in profusion. Although the potters in the Jiajing reign did not develop completely new colours or decorative techniques, they were very inventive in using traditional techniques in new ways, thus expanding the range of styles and colour schemes. The use of cobalt blue to create a striking colour ground on this box is known from the early Ming dynasty, although it was seldom used with overglaze yellow and iron red prior to the Jiajing reign. This particular colour composition is unusual, as the three colours would have been applied and fired at different times and different temperatures.

Boxes of this form and design are extremely rare. Only four closely related examples are known: the first in the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 123; the second, from the Bloxam Collection in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, was included in the exhibition Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1994, cat. no. 28; the third, in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, is published in Oriental Ceramics, op. cit., vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 239; and the fourth, from the collection of A. de Madeiros e Almeida, is illustrated in Cécile and Michel Beurdeley, La Céramique Chinoise, Fribourg, 1974, pl. 77.

Box and cover with underglaze blue and overglaze red and yellow decoration, Ming dynasty, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566), Chinese. Width: 15.55 cm, Height: 9.5 cm. Given from the Bloxam Collection, C.140&A-1928 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2017. 

 Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 05 Apr 2017