WANLI (1573-1619)

Details

A MING BLUE AND WHITE MODEL OF A SHRINE
WANLI (1573-1619)
Modelled as Zhenwu seated within a shrine wearing Ming-style costume flanked by two martial guardians below two dragons trailing down from a lintel, a smaller figure in the alcove above and a turtle entwined with a snake at his feet, the pedestal painted with a flower scroll, some losses, small restoration to roof eave
10 3/8 in. (26 cm.) high

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Lot Essay

Zhenwu, the Supreme Emperor of the Dark Heaven, is an important and widely worshipped deity whose origin can be traced to the late Warring States period and Han dynasty. He is originally represented by a tortoise entwined by a snake and was the ancient symbol of the North, also know as Xuanwu. For a discussion of Zhenwu see Stephen Little, Taoism, Chicago, 2000, pp. 291-292, where the author also illustrated a blue and white model of Zhenwu with a Wanli mark from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, in ibid, p. 297.

Also compare a fahua example with very similar modelling to the present lot, illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics, 1996, p. 241

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