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

Hammer

€42,000

A Chinese blue and white quatrefoil 'Dragon' box and cover, Wanli mark and of the period

Dim: 15,1 x 13 x 8 cm

Provenance:
- The Dr. Carew-Shaw Collection.
- S. Marchant and Son, London.
- The Drs. A. M. Sengers Collection, collection no. 191, acquired from the above in April 1986.
- S. Marchant and Son, London, with their label to the base.
- The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium. Acquired from the above on 19 October 2001 and accompanied by a copy of their original invoice. (see added scans)
Exhibited and published:
- Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, exhibited in their 1978-1979 exhibition 'Asiatische Kunst uit Het Bezit van Leden, 60 years Exhibition', and published in the accompanying catalogue, no. 13:8.
- Museum Het Prinsenhof, The Netherlands, exhibited at the loan exhibition 'Schatten uit de Oost of De Kunst van het Verzamelen', at the 42nd Delft Antique Fair in October 1990, 'Eighty Years Chinese Ceramic history in a Dutch Private Porcelain Collection', A4.
- The Park Lane Hotel, London, exhibited at the June 2000 Ceramics Fair 'Eighty Years of Chinese Blue and White (c. 1564-1645), the Choice of a Dutch Private Collector' and published in the accompanying catalogue, fig. 7.
- S. Marchant and Son, London, included in their november 2001 exhibition of 'Ming Blue and White Porcelain. The Drs. A. M. Sengers Collection', and published in the accompanying catalogue, pp. 6-7, no. 4. Also illustrated in their 2025 publication 'One Hundred Years', Vol. I, p. 186, fig. 306.

Of compressed drum form, the exterior painted in underglaze blue with a continuous mountainous landscape populated by five scholars engaged in leisurely pursuits. One scholar stands holding an unfurled scroll, another leans against a rockwork outcrop reading a book, while two others are seated beside a game board. A fifth figure reclines holding a foliate fan. The scene is enclosed between bands of stylised scrolls and pendent ruyi-head motifs reserved within triangular panels.
The flat upper surface is centred by a raised circular boss decorated with a ruyi-head border and pierced at the centre, surrounded by three circular and one rectangular aperture reserved against a ground of ruyi clouds. The base bears the four-character mark Wan fu you tong ('May Infinite Happiness Gather').
This unusual vessel belongs to the scholar's studio tradition and functioned as a combined brush and ink holder. The three circular apertures were intended to hold writing brushes upright, while the rectangular opening accommodated a solid ink stick. Such objects formed part of the wenfang sibao ('Four Treasures of the Scholar's Studio'), the essential implements of Chinese calligraphy and painting, comprising brush, ink, paper and inkstone.
Examples of this form are exceptionally rare. While ingenious in conception, the design appears to have been somewhat impractical in use, as brushes could not always stand securely within the apertures and the retrieval of a progressively shortened ink stick would have become increasingly difficult. The rarity of surviving examples suggests that production was limited, making the present piece a notable and unusual survival from the literati culture of the mid-Ming period.

Reference:
Comparable examples are in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, object no. B69P44L and in Keramiekmuseum Princessehof, The Netherlands, object no. OKS 1963-002. Another similar example is illustrated in 'Eastern Ceramics and other Works of Art from the Collection of Gerald Reitlinger', Ashmolean Museum, page 24, no. 13.

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