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A RARE BLUE AND WHITE RECTANGULAR 'DRAGONS AND WAVES' BOX AND COVER Wanli six-character mark and of the period (2) image 1
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE RECTANGULAR 'DRAGONS AND WAVES' BOX AND COVER Wanli six-character mark and of the period (2) image 2
A RARE BLUE AND WHITE RECTANGULAR 'DRAGONS AND WAVES' BOX AND COVER Wanli six-character mark and of the period (2) image 3
THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN
紳士藏品
Lot 330

A RARE BLUE AND WHITE RECTANGULAR 'DRAGONS AND WAVES' BOX AND COVER
Wanli six-character mark and of the period

2 November 2023, 15:00 GMT
London, New Bond Street

Sold for £16,640 inc. premium

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A RARE BLUE AND WHITE RECTANGULAR 'DRAGONS AND WAVES' BOX AND COVER

Wanli six-character mark and of the period
Of rectangular form with indented corners standing on a short and straight foot, the domed cover painted in blue-cobalt tones with a pair of confronted five-clawed dragons chasing a 'flaming pearl' amidst ruyi-shaped clouds above waves and rocks, the sides of the cover and the body of the box decorated with stylised peony scrolls bordered by bands of key-fret pattern at the rims. 23.5cm (9 2/8in) long. (2).

Footnotes

明萬曆 青花雙龍戲珠長方蓋盒
青花「大明萬曆年製」楷書款

Provenance: an Asian private collection

Published and Illustrated: T.Koopman, Heavenly Boxes: The Edrina Collection of Tang, Song, Ming, and Qing Boxes, Hong Kong, pp.94-95.

來源:亞洲私人收藏

著錄:馮英柱,《天作之盒:昇雯閣藏唐宋元明清珍寶盒》,香港,第94-95頁

One assertion about the function of boxes as the present lot is that they were made as containers for gifts of sweetmeats; see J.Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p.324. Compare with a related blue and white rectangular box decorated with two dragons and peach trees, Wanli mark and period, in the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Blue-and-white Ware of the Ming Dynasty, vol.VI, Hong Kong, 1963, p.42.

Compare with a similar blue and white rectangular dragon covered box, Wanli mark and of the period, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 3115.

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