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Lot Essay
A limited number of pen-trays decorated in the wucai palette with the combined 'dragon and phoenix' design are known such as the example from the Christina Loke Balsara Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 19 January 1988, lot 265; and another is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 2, no. 710.
There is another group of related Wanli-marked wucai pen-trays of the same shape but with a slight variation in the main motifs where they are moulded in relief and the 'dragon and phoenix' on the interior main compartment are replaced with a pair of dragons. These include an example exhibited by Yamanaka & Co., London, 1938, Exhibition of Chinese Ceramic Art, Bronze, Jade, etc., and sold at Sotheby's London, 11 June 1996, lot 36; a pen-tray from the Robert Chang collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 October 2000, lot 828; its companion pen-tray was included in the exhibition, Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T. Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 42; and another in the Percival David Foundation exhibited in Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 22; and another from the Hirota Collection, now in the Tokyo National Museum, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha series, 1982, vol. 1, pl. 76.
There is another group of related Wanli-marked wucai pen-trays of the same shape but with a slight variation in the main motifs where they are moulded in relief and the 'dragon and phoenix' on the interior main compartment are replaced with a pair of dragons. These include an example exhibited by Yamanaka & Co., London, 1938, Exhibition of Chinese Ceramic Art, Bronze, Jade, etc., and sold at Sotheby's London, 11 June 1996, lot 36; a pen-tray from the Robert Chang collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 31 October 2000, lot 828; its companion pen-tray was included in the exhibition, Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T. Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 42; and another in the Percival David Foundation exhibited in Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 22; and another from the Hirota Collection, now in the Tokyo National Museum, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Kodansha series, 1982, vol. 1, pl. 76.