WANLI SIX-CHARACTER GILT-FILLED INSCRIBED MARK IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1619)

Details

A LARGE LACQUER RECTANGULAR 'DRAGON' BOX AND COVER
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER GILT-FILLED INSCRIBED MARK IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1619)
The cover and box are decorated in qiangjin and tianqi technique on a red ground with two five-clawed dragons contesting a flaming pearl amidst clouds on the top of the cover above flower scroll on the sides, which is repeated on the sides of the box, and there are ruyi clouds on the lobed corners.
15¾ in. (40 cm.) long, fitted cloth box

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Lot Essay

Several other comparable boxes and covers are known and published, all with slightly different designs. A slightly larger qiangjin and tianqi box (47.8 cm. wide) of similar form incised with a Wanli cyclical date and decorated with two dragons centered around a shou character from the Lee Family Collection is illustrated in Dragon and Phoenix - Chinese Lacquer Ware, The Lee Family Collection, Tokyo, 1990, no. 82, p. 190-191. Another (36.6 cm. wide), also bearing a Wanli cyclical date and decorated with two dragons centered on auspicious emblems, from the Palace Museum, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 45 - Lacquer Wares of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, Beijing, 2006, pp. 224-25, no. 177.

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