Lot 31 A Chinese blue and white quatrefoil 'Dragon' box and cover

A Chinese blue and white quatrefoil 'Dragon' box and cover

Wanli mark and of the period

未知

€ 25.000 – € 50.000

WDH: H. 8 cm, W. 15,1 cm, D. 13 cm

未知

The quatrefoil box is of shallow rounded form, fitted with a matching cover of corresponding shape. The cover is painted in rich underglaze cobalt blue with a frontal five-clawed dragon emerging amid scrolling clouds, its foreclaws raised towards a flaming pearl above its head. The sides of both the cover and the box are encircled by pairs of striding dragons amid waves breaking against rocky peaks and scrolling clouds. The rims of the cover and box are each bordered by a key-fret band. The interior is fully glazed, and the box is supported on a foot ring enclosing a six-character Da Ming Wanli Nian Zhi mark written in underglaze cobalt-blue regular script in two vertical columns.
Boxes of this type were produced in a variety of forms during the Wanli period. While some specialised examples, such as the elongated rectangular boxes made to contain folding fans, are preserved in the Changshu Museum, Jiangsu, the precise function of the present form remains uncertain. It has been suggested that boxes of this shape may have served as luxurious containers for gifts of sweetmeats or other delicacies presented at court or on ceremonial occasions.
此盒呈四方倭角形，盒身淺腹弧壁，配同形淺腹蓋，蓋、身上下相合，形制規整。蓋面以濃麗青花繪正面五爪龍穿行於卷雲之間，雙爪托舉火珠於首上。盒蓋及盒身側壁皆環飾雙龍紋，間以海水江崖及卷雲紋。蓋、盒口沿各環飾回紋一周。器內滿釉，底承圈足，圈足內以青花楷書 '大明萬曆年製' 雙行六字款。
萬曆時期曾燒造多種不同形制與用途的盒器，其中部分具有明確的專門功能，例如江蘇常熟博物館所藏用以盛放摺扇的長方形盒。然而，本件四方倭角盒的確切用途尚未明確。有學者推測，此類製作精美的盒器或曾用於宮廷及重要禮儀場合，盛放糖果、蜜餞或其他珍饈，作為賞賜或饋贈之用。
Reference:
A near-identical box and cover is in the British Museum, London, museum no. 1947,0712.221.a-b. (link)
Provenance:
S. Marchant and Son, London, with their label to the base.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium, acquired from the above in 2007, according to the owner's inventory notes.