Lot 118. A fine and extremely rare phoenix and Buddhist emblem cloisonné enamel box and cover, four-character Jingtai seal mark to base, 15th-16th century. D. 11,5 cm, Weight: 837 gr. Sold: €8 000 (Est: €8 000 - €12 000). Photo Nagel Auction.

Wear to gilding, slightly chipped, very minor losses to enamels.

Provenance: From the Ludwig Bretschneider Collection (1909-1987), collected from the 1950s to the early 1970s.

Note: Cloisonné enamelware was introduced to China in the 14th century during the Yuan dynasty and reached artistic maturity in the first half of the 15th century, when production was strictly regulated by the Yuyongjian, a department of the imperial household. The present piece is an exceptionally rare example from the 15th or 16th century. , the four-character seal mark is extremely rare, it shows the colour palette and decorative elements inherited from earlier examples from the Xuande period.

Compare a lidded box, with a slightly different colour scheme, Xuande period, in the George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, illustrated by B. Quette, ed., Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, New York, 2011, p.37, Fig.3.12.

See also the round cloisonné enamel lidded box from the Xuande period sold at Christie's Hong Kong 28.11.2012, lot 2130.

Fine Asian Art - Day I by Nagel Auction, June 12, 2023, Stuttgart