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拍品專文
Decorated in rich blue tones of imported cobalt blue, this box exhibits the remarkable skill of the Wanli potters in the execution of the shape using slab construction. The 90 degree angles of such boxes were prone to splitting in the firing process, and the thickness of the walls led to warping. Since the cover has to fit precisely over the sides, very precise construction was necessary. The current box and cover is exceptional in its successful firing without warping.
The cover of this box is decorated with the popular Ming motif of the dragon and phoenix, which can be found on other porcelain scholar’s objects of the period such as pens and pen trays. The shape can be found with similar floral decoration on the interior and exterior of the box, and similar mark within a ruyi rectangle, but with a scene of scholars in a garden on the top of the cover. For examples with the scholar scene on the cover see one in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by R. Scott in Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration, London, 1992, p. 92, no. 94; one in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, p. 310, no. 923; one in the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, illustrated by C. J. A. Jörg in Oriental Porcelain in the Netherlands, Four Museum Collections, Groningen, 2003, pp. 20-21, no. 4; and one from Marchant: Eight Treasures of the for the Wanli Emperor, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 September 2023, lot 882.
A related Wanli-period wucai box and cover of the same shape, decorated with confronting dragons on the top of the cover, in the Umezawa Gallery, Japan, is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, p. 311, no. 926. An interesting blue and white example of this form with the sides and cover left blank, likely for wucai decoration, is in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, and illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 730.
The cover of this box is decorated with the popular Ming motif of the dragon and phoenix, which can be found on other porcelain scholar’s objects of the period such as pens and pen trays. The shape can be found with similar floral decoration on the interior and exterior of the box, and similar mark within a ruyi rectangle, but with a scene of scholars in a garden on the top of the cover. For examples with the scholar scene on the cover see one in the Percival David Foundation illustrated by R. Scott in Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration, London, 1992, p. 92, no. 94; one in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, p. 310, no. 923; one in the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague, illustrated by C. J. A. Jörg in Oriental Porcelain in the Netherlands, Four Museum Collections, Groningen, 2003, pp. 20-21, no. 4; and one from Marchant: Eight Treasures of the for the Wanli Emperor, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 September 2023, lot 882.
A related Wanli-period wucai box and cover of the same shape, decorated with confronting dragons on the top of the cover, in the Umezawa Gallery, Japan, is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, p. 311, no. 926. An interesting blue and white example of this form with the sides and cover left blank, likely for wucai decoration, is in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, and illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 730.