A VERY RARE LARGE MING BLUE AND WHITE CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER

Details

A VERY RARE LARGE MING BLUE AND WHITE CIRCULAR BOX AND COVER
LONGQING SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1567-1572)

The cover decorated with sinuous ascending and descending dragons amidst lingzhi scrolls within a foliate vignette, surrounded on the periphery by four striding dragons, each divided by a different Daoist emblem, all above a border of cloud motifs, the pattern is similarly repeated on the exterior of the box, the base is glazed white except for the footring burnt slightly orange in the firing (hairlines to foot and rims)
12 5/8 in. (32 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Clark.
Mr. K. R. Malcolm.

Exhibited

Oriental Ceramic Society, London, Ming Blue and White, Catalogue, 1946, no. 79.
Oriental Ceramic Society, London, The Arts of the Ming Dynasty, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, 1955-57, vol. 30, no. 143.
Messrs. Eskenazi, Animals and Animal Designs in Chinese Art, New York, 1998, no. 23.

Lot Essay

Compare with a similar example illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1988, pl. 712. A smaller Longqing-marked circular box (20.9 cm. diam.) with a design of dragon and phoenix is illustrated in Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 154.

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