Page 95 - Sotheby's Chinese Art and Porcelain Auction New York September 12, 2018

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A WUCAI ‘GARDEN’ CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER Further Wanli mark and period wucai boxes of this design
WANLI MARK AND PERIOD include one in the Manchester City Art Galleries, illustrated
in C.M. Kau$ man, ‘Chinese Pottery and Porcelain in the
of rounded form, the domed cover with a slightly raised Manchester City Art Galleries’, Oriental Art, vol. V, Autumn
circular panel, the rims with raised horizontal bands, 1959, pp. 120-22, pl. 3; one formerly in the collection of
all supported on a straight foot, painted in deep tones George and Cornelia WingÞ eld Digby, later in the Meiyintang
of underglaze blue with details in red, green and yellow Collection and sold at our Hong Kong rooms, 9th October
enamels, the cover with a central garden scene with two 2012, lot 48; and a third sold at Christie’s Paris, 19th
long-tailed parrots perched on the branches of a willow tree, December 2012, lot 95.
all above pairs of butterß ies and insects in ß ight amidst
$ 25,000-35,000
lilies, asters and other ß owers growing among rocks, the
sides with sprays of pomegranate, peach, lychees, vines and 㖶叔㙮ġġġḼ⼑㞛⚺剙刚⚾味䙺
ß owers, the raised rim borders with diaper bands, the base
with the six-character reign mark in underglaze blue (2) ˪⣏㖶叔㙮⸜墥˫㫦
Diameter 9⅜ in., 23.8 cm
The design on the present box is inspired by a Chenghua
period doucai design, the only extant example of which was
excavated at the waste heaps of the Ming imperial site at
Jingdezheng, having been destroyed before the enamels
were added, and included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelain:
Recent Discoveries of Jingdezhen Ware, Museum of Oriental
Ceramics, Osaka, 1995, cat. no. 114.

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