Lot 524. A blue and white 'dragon' censer and cover, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620), 14 cm., 5 1/2 in. Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HKD. Lot sold 540,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's.

of rectangular shape with lion mask and free ring handles, supported on four tapering angular legs decorated with leaping dragons, the concave neck with two further dragons on the longer sides and cloud motifs flanking the handles on the shorter sides, the flattened rim with a band of lingzhi scroll and the six-character mark inscribed in a double rectangle on the base; the cover with a band of scrolling lingzhi fungus below the Eight Trigrams, the top formed by a reticulated dragon, its head rising to one side to act as the knop. Quantity: 2.

Provenance: Acquired in France.

Note: Wanli censers of this form complete with a cover are extremely rare. It is also unusual to find censers that have the loose rings fitted in the handles as generally they get broken and lost. See a similar censer, but lacking a cover, in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, illustrated in Imperial overglaze - Enamelled Wares in the Late Ming Dynasty, Osaka, 1995, pl. 735; another from the collection of Gustaf Hillestrom, Stockholm, included in the exhibition Ming Blue-and-white, The Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, 1964, cat.no. 75; and a third example sold in these rooms, 15th March 1979, lot 504, and again in our London rooms, 13th December 1983, lot 255.

 Compare also a Wanli mark and period censer of this shape painted with the design of clouds, dragons and waves, from the Qing court collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (II), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 177.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art: The Collection of a Parisian Connoisseur, Hong Kong, 08 Apr 2007