A BLUE AND WHITE CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER

Details

A BLUE AND WHITE CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD

The domed cover well painted with a scene of boys at play in a courtyard, surrounded by a band of four dragons striding amidst clouds in pursuit of flaming pearls, a narrow band of babao alternating with lingzhi sprigs encircling the rim, the sides of the box similarly decorated above a band of foliate scroll encircling the foot rim, all outlined in dark underglaze blue and filled in with an underglaze blue of brighter, more purplish tone
8¾in. (22.2cm.) diam., box

Provenance

T.Y. Chao Family Trust, no. 26

Lot Essay

A number of similar examples exist in museum collections. A closely related box in the Philadelphia Museum of Art was included in The Exhibition of Ming Blue-and-White, Philadelphia, 1949, Catalogue, no. 141; another, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, was exhibited in Ming Porcelains, China House Gallery, October 29, 1970-January 31, 1971, Catalogue, no. 58 and also illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, no. 93