Lot 553. A polychrome lacquer circular box and cover, Ming dynasty, 17th century. Diameter 4 3/8  in., 11.1 cm. Estimate 15,000 — 25,000 USD. Lot sold 18,750 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the cinnabar lacquer finely incised and further picked out in tianqi polychrome enamels with a scene of two Daoist sages, each carrying a qin, meeting beneath a twisting evergreen jutting out from a wall of rockwork, all against an incised cell-diaper ground, the sides incised with stylized scrollwork, the base and interiors with black lacquer, the base with an apocryphal Xuande mark (2).

Sotheby’s. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 16 september 2014