Lot Essay
Boxes of this kind, dating from the early part of the Ming Dynasty, are extremely rare. See Sir H. Garner, Chinese and Japanese Cloisonné Enamels, pl.58 for a discussion of the group that are published, principally from European collections. Garner draws a clear distinction between those boxes decorated with "formal ornamentation" which he places in the mid-15th Century, and those which show "the beginning of a naturalistic treatment of flowering and fruiting branches". Although he feels that all may come from the same factory, they may have been made over a considerable period of time. The box offered here seems to belong stylistically within the earlier group, with its precise and formal geometric floral decoration; related in spirit much more to the Xuande-marked ritual disc formerly in the collection of Sir Percival David, op.cit, pl.10A, and the lotus-flower box and cover, ibid., pl.19B. The later 15th Century group of boxes displays an additional pale green enamel, much paler than the usual dark green; indeed, the whole palette is more sophisticated and elaborate than the enamels convincingly dated to the first half of the 15th Century. Overall, "the pattern of development in the 15th Century .... shows first a group of pieces with a strictly limited palette in the enamels, and with designs confined to lotus scrolls and formal borders .... followed by more complicated and less formal ones, associated with an extension of the range of enamel colours, including the first of the 'mixed colours' [with] a tendency for the new designs to become more open" (ibid., p.59). Although there is a suggestion that a small mark may have been effaced on the base, it seems reasonable to place this box in the first half of the 15th Century.
In this respect, it forms an interesting comparison with the famous Uldry box, illustrated first by Garner, ibid., pl.11; and then on the front cover of the Uldry Collection Catalogue, no.1. This box has a Xuande six-character mark in a line on the top, and has been widely published from the Winkworth and David collections as being completely acceptable as early 15th Century. The Uldry catalogue illustrates another box of the same date, no.3, which is smaller than the present lot, but has a comparable style of formal flower-head on the top. See also the box and cover formerly in the Garner Collection, decorated on top with a lotus flower in profile, but of different profile to the present lot: Uldry, ibid., no.12.
In this respect, it forms an interesting comparison with the famous Uldry box, illustrated first by Garner, ibid., pl.11; and then on the front cover of the Uldry Collection Catalogue, no.1. This box has a Xuande six-character mark in a line on the top, and has been widely published from the Winkworth and David collections as being completely acceptable as early 15th Century. The Uldry catalogue illustrates another box of the same date, no.3, which is smaller than the present lot, but has a comparable style of formal flower-head on the top. See also the box and cover formerly in the Garner Collection, decorated on top with a lotus flower in profile, but of different profile to the present lot: Uldry, ibid., no.12.