WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK AT THE RIM AND OF THE PERIOD

Details

A LARGE MING BLUE AND WHITE SQUARE ALTAR VASE
wanli six-character mark at the rim and of the period
The prominent middle section applied on each side with a lion-head handle suspending a loose brass ring, below the tall slightly tapering neck and flaring lipped rim and supported on the tall spreading foot, painted all over with phoenix and dragons amidst leafy flowering tendrils above rocks and waves, neck restuck, chips restored, frits
31½in. (80cm.) high

Lot Essay

It is unusual to find a Wanli vase of such large size. A somewhat smaller vase (69.4cm.) in the Musée Guimet painted with dragons among flowers, but without the phoenix, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol.7, 1981, no.81; and one in the British Museum painted with a very similar design of dragons and phoenix among flowers, but of still smaller size (56cm.), is illustrated in the Museum's Guide to the Pottery and Porcelain of the Far East, fig.73.

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