Lot 185. A blue and white kosometsuke shell-form sweetmeat dish, Tianqi period (1621-1627); 7 ¼ in. (18.5 cm.) long. Estimate GBP 3,000 - GBP 5,000 (USD 4,053 - USD 6,755). Price realised GBP 4,375. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018.

The dish is freely decorated to the interior with a large shrimp amongst waterweeds with trailing vines, surrounded by a single-line border following the shape of the spiralling shell. The exterior is decorated with pale cobalt blue splashes and the lines of the exterior follow the moulding of the shell, all standing on three cylindrical feet.

Note: Compare a set of five similar dishes illustrated in Masahiko Kawahara, Ko-sometsuke, Kyoto, 1977, p. 195, pl. 741, and a single dish in the collection of the Sekido Museum of Art, published in Kosometsuke, Tokyo, 2017, p. 149, no. 99.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, London, 15 May 2018. SALE 15487