A wucai fan-shaped 'dragon and phoenix' box and cover, Mark and period of Wanli | 明萬曆 五彩穿花龍鳳紋扇形蓋盒 《大明萬曆年製》款

Eskenazi Ltd., London.

Mayuyama & Co. Ltd., Tokyo.

埃斯卡納齊，倫敦

繭山龍泉堂，東京

Two related boxes and covers were sold in our London rooms, the first, 11th July 1978, lot 192, and the second, 9th June 2004, lot 187; one lacking the cover, from the collections of S.H. Evans and Roger Pilkington, was sold in these rooms, 6th April 2016, lot 50; and a further box of this form painted with confronting dragons in the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 11:152.

This design is also known painted entirely in underglaze blue; compare for example a Wanli mark and period box, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 174; and a pair from the Edward T. Chow Collection, sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 14.