WANLI SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE IN A LINE AND OF THE PERIOD (1573-1619)

There are two vases of identical shape and design in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the larger (72 cm. high overall) with covers, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 160; and the smaller example (43 cm. high), pl. 161. Eight blue and white meiping vases of this form, including three of this exact design, still with their covers, were discovered in the Wanli Emperor’s tomb, Ding Ling, among the few porcelain items found when the tomb was excavated in 1958.