WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1609)

A small group of these wall-vases painted with this same theme are known such as the example in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, no. 167, p. 167; another vase is in the Musée Guimet is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collection, 1981, vol. 7, no. 82; a third example from John Sparks, London, was included in the Marco Polo Seventh Centenary Exhibition, Mostra d’arte Cinese Venice, 1954, Catalogue, no. 676. Compare also a vase from the Jingguantang Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 5 November 1997, lot 887.