Page 35 - Christie's, MARCHANT Eight Treasures For The Wanli Emporer September 21, 2023

Fig. 1 Ingot-shaped box with cloud and dragon decoration in underglaze blue, Longqing mark and of the period (1567-1572), Ming dynasty. National Palace Museum,
Taipei, 故瓷017844N000000000.
圖ˏ 青花雲龍紋銀錠式盒
明隆慶
臺٫故宮博ḵ院
館藏編號故瓷 /

As discussed by Rosemary Scott in the introduction to this Grandidier Collection, G. 5787, now in the Museé Guimet, Paris,
catalogue, while the ingot shape is more commonly found in is illustrated by A. LeBonheur in The World’s Great Collections,
lacquer ware, it is rare in porcelain, perhaps because of the Oriental Ceramcis, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, no. 79. Other related
difficulty in firing the complex curved shape. The shape in examples include one in the Baur Collection, Geneva, illustrated
porcelain appears in Longqing-period blue and white boxes, by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection, Chinese Ceramics, Volume
such as one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated II, Geneva, 1969, no. A187; one in the Asian Art Museum, San
in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum - Blue and White Francisco, illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics, A New
Ware of the Ming Dynasty – VI, Hong Kong, 1963, pl. 2. (Fig. 1) Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, fig. 435; and one in the
Newark Museum, illustrated by V. Reynolds and Yen Fen Pei in
Similarly decorated blue and white ingot-shaped boxes from Chinese Art from the Newark Museum, China House Gallery,
the Wanli period can be found in several important museum New York, 1980, p. 48, no. 26.
collections. A very similar example to the present box from the

32 33