Lot 3119. A very rare Yue mise box and cover, late Tang dynasty-Five dynasties, 9th-10th century, 6 7/8 in. (17.5 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000 (USD 51,650 - USD 77,475) © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The box and cover are of the same shallow domed shape with straight sides, with an incised band near the upper rim of the cover, covered overall under an even and semi-translucent glaze of yellowish-olive tone, with the exception of the ten oval spur marks on the underside of the box, and the mouth rims of the box and cover where twenty-six corresponding spur marks are visible.

Provenance: Matsushita Corporate Collection, Japan

Exhibited: Tokyo National Museum, Special Exhibition: Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo, 12 October – 23 November 1994, Catalogue no. 131

Note: Surviving Yue boxes of this size and quality of glaze are exceptionally rare. Compare to a round cosmetic box and cover (9.4 cm.) from the Tang dynasty, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci: Yueyao, Shanghai, 1983, no. 154, which has a proportionally taller box but has the same incised band around the upper rim of the cover; and another Tang dynasty round cover (9 cm.) of this form with a remarkably similar glaze, recovered from the Shanglinhu Yue kiln site, Zhejiang province, which was the centre of production of Yue wares during the Tang and Song dynasties, see Shanglinhu Yueyao, Beijing, 2002, col. pl. 2/5; and a shallower cosmetic box (8.4 cm.) (fig. 1) similarly fired on spurs (fig. 2) uncovered from Kangling, the Mausoleum of Lady Ma (890-939), the principal wife of the second King of the Wuyue Kingdom, illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China – 9 – Zhejiang, Beijing, 2008, p. 145, no. 145, which the author suggests might be an example from a group of the finest Yue porcelain known as the mise ware.

fig. 1

fig. 2

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 31 May 2017, Convention Hall