Lot Essay
A similarly decorated pierced wucai box is illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, p. 311, no. 927
WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE IN A LINE WITHIN A DOUBLE RECTANGLE AND OF THE PERIOD
Details
AN UNUSUAL WUCAI RECTANGULAR BOX AND PIERCED COVER
Wanli Six-Character Mark in Underglaze Blue in a Line Within a Double Rectangle and of the Period
The slightly domed cover painted in iron-red with an ogival cartouche containing lingzhi fungus scroll interspersed with numerous circular apertures, with sprigs of lingzhi fungus at the corners and repeated again as scrolling meander around the sides, the fungus heads in rich underglaze blue, iron-red and yellow, the sides of the box similarly decorated above the four bracket supports, but with the fungus heads in iron-red and green only, all within double and single blue line borders, the nianhao painted within a glazed rectangle in the middle of the unglazed base
8¼in. (21cm.) long, box
Wanli Six-Character Mark in Underglaze Blue in a Line Within a Double Rectangle and of the Period
The slightly domed cover painted in iron-red with an ogival cartouche containing lingzhi fungus scroll interspersed with numerous circular apertures, with sprigs of lingzhi fungus at the corners and repeated again as scrolling meander around the sides, the fungus heads in rich underglaze blue, iron-red and yellow, the sides of the box similarly decorated above the four bracket supports, but with the fungus heads in iron-red and green only, all within double and single blue line borders, the nianhao painted within a glazed rectangle in the middle of the unglazed base
8¼in. (21cm.) long, box
Exhibited
Singapore, The Empress Place Museum, Gems of Chinese Art, Selections of Ceramics and Bronzes from the Tsui Art Foundation, 1992 - 1995, no. 92