This box belongs to a small and rare group of cloisonné pieces bearing prominent enamelled Wanli marks, Da ming Wanli nian zao within a rectangle and encircled by ruyi heads. More often than not, the pieces in this category share similarities in decoration and colour. The present box is exceptional for its fine and meticulous enamelling, and its unique use of a darker blue background.

A Wanli-marked dish from the Clague Collection, included in the Phoenix Art Museum exhibition Chinese Cloisonné: The Clague Collection, 1980, and illustrated in the Catalogue, pl. 16, is decorated with a camellia scroll identical in style to that on the present box; while a cylindrical box, previously in the collection of Sir Percival and Lady David, and illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, Zurich, 1989, pl. 112, is decorated with a central Shou medallion encircled by a lingzhi scroll, related in style to the camellia scroll. Another piece from this group of Wanli-marked cloisonné, a dish from the National Palace Museum, Taibei, illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Enamel Ware in the National Palace Museum, 1971, pl. 9, is closely related to the present lot in the panels of floral sprigs bordering the dish rim, which are echoed on the rounded sides of the box.