Lot Essay
A very similar qingbai box and cover, but of slightly smaller size, unearth from a sutra mound at Wakayama-ken in Japan, and dated to the Southern Song dynasty, 13th century, is now in the National Museum, Tokyo, and illustrated by M. Tregear, Song Ceramics, London, 1982, p. 214, no. 289. Another qingbai box with similar molded small florets on the cover, dated Song dynasty, 10th-13th century, is illustrated by H. Li, in Chinese ceramics: comprehensive survey from the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, New York, 1996, no. 290. See, also, the qinbai box with similar molded decoration on the cover, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 4 October 2016, lot 123. A similarity decorated example, but with a mold-impressed studio mark Duan jia he zi ji (box made by the Duan family) mark on the base, is illustrated in Ben Janssens Oriental Art 2015 exhibition, Maastricht, pp.70-71.