Lot 524. A rare lobed wucai basin, Wanli mark and period (1573-1619). Width 13¾ in., 35 cm. Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 USD. Lot sold 189,000 USD. © Sotheby's 2020.

of octagonal form, the interior freely painted with a seated figure approached by an attendant carrying a vessel, framed by a large overhanging pine tree, ornamental rockwork and ruyi-shaped clouds in the sky above, the deep lobed cavetto painted with eight pairs of similar scholars and attendants, repeated at the rim, the exterior painted with alternating lotus and lingzhi sprays below a formal floral meander, the base centered with a recessed glazed medallion inscribed with a six-character reign mark. 

Note: The unusual figural composition on the present basin is only found on one other basin, formerly in the Ataka Collection, now in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, which has been extensively published, including most recently in Degawa Tetsuro, MOCO. Selected Masterpieces from The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, Osaka, 2019, pl. 75. Related designs composed of figures or Immortals are found on a small number of basins of the same form, including one sold in our London rooms, 11th December 1979, lot 309 and now in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo; two 'Immortals' basins, the first included in the exhibition Chūgoku bijutsu ten series: Min Shin no bijutsu [Chinese Art exhibition series. The Art of the Ming and Qing dynasties], Osaka Art Museum, Osaka, 1980, cat. no. 1-104; and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29th September 1992, lot 483. 

 Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, Live Auction, 23 September 2020, New York