Page 146 - Christie's Asia Week March 2024 Chinese Art

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART INCLUDING THE COLLECTION OF DOROTHY TAPPER GOLDMAN

Another Property
ⱷ950
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE 'DRAGON AND 明萬曆 青花開Բ龍鳳紋長方蓋盒 雙長方框單行Ս字楷書款
PHOENIX' WRITING BOX AND COVER Ϝ源
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE IN A LINE AND OF 日本奈良私́珍藏，Ն藏於̣戰ע (mark)
THE PERIOD (1573-1620)
11¬ in. (29.5 cm.) wide, Japanese wood box
$120,000-180,000
PROVENANCE:
Private Japanese collection, Nara, prior to World War II.

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

(another view)

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