of robustly potted circular form painted in deep cobalt blue hues, the domed cover decorated with eight cranes in flight amidst auspicious emblems including a large peach, lingzhi, and scrolling clouds, enclosed by four lobed panels, each with a pair of cranes flanking a lingzhi sprig, reserved on a wanzi ground above a band of scrolling foliage at the rim, the box similarly painted but with the four lobed panels alternating peaches and lingzhi, all supported on a short foot ring, the slightly-recessed base glazed white and centered by a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle (2). 

Provenance: Toguri Museum of Art, Tokyo.
Sotheby's London, 9th June 2004, lot 43.

Literature: Fujioka, Ryoichi, Toji taikei: Min no sometsuke [Blue and white ware of the Ming dynasty], vol. 42, Tokyo, 1975, pl. 87.
Fujioka Ryoichi and Hasebe Gakuji, Sekai tôji zenshû / Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 103.

Note: Vigorously painted overall in deep cobalt blue with carefully selected auspicious motifs, this large box exudes the keen interest in Daoism at court during the Wanli reign (r.1573-1620). Artifacts brimming with Daoist imagery were already popular in the Jiajing reign due to the emperor’s devotion to Daoist beliefs and practices, and continued to blossom during Wanli’s reign. Soaring cranes, auspicious lingzhi and peaches painted on the present box were conventional symbols of longevity and chosen with the intention of protecting the emperor against the vicissitudes of fortune.

Compare a closely related box in the Idemitsu Museum, Tokyo, included in the Museum’s exhibition Gen Min no tôji [Yuan and Ming Ceramics], 1977, cat. no. 92; one sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th November 1984, lot 188; and a third example sold in our London rooms, 7th June 1988, lot 226.

See also similarly decorated Jiajing mark and period boxes of circular form, including one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed-Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 109; one sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 2941; and another sold at Christie’s New York, 19th March 2008, lot 585.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 12 sept. 2018, 10:30 AM