WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE RECTANGLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1619)

Details

A MASSIVE WUCAI ‘DRAGON’ GU-FORM VASE
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE RECTANGLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1619)
Modelled after an archaic bronze gu, the well-proportioned vase is decorated on the exterior with four horizontal registers depicting a total of twenty dragons in flight above waves and rocks. The mid-section is applied with four lion-form masks, and the unglazed base is pierced with four circular apertures for ventilation.
29 in. (73.5 cm.) high, box

Provenance

Sold at Christie’s London, 19 June 2001, lot 49

Brought to you by

Marco Almeida (安偉達) SVP, Senior International Specialist, Head of Department & Head of Private Sales

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Lot Essay

The present vase is notable for its colourful enamels and impressive size. Compare with a very similar vase (75.2 cm.) sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 October 2015, lot 3662; and another example (74 cm.) decorated with dragons and phoenix in the Idemitsu Collection, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 203. Compare also with a slightly shorter blue and white version (69.4 cm.) in the Museé Guimet, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World’s Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1981, fig. 81.

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