WANLI PERIOD (1573-1619)

The separate compartmented tray contained within box appears to be exceptionally rare and would indicate that this may have been used as a container for food or possibly cosmetics. Much larger boxes with petal-lobed compartments dividing the interior are widely published. A box and cover in the collection of the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo is illustrated in In Pursuit of the Dragon - Traditions and Transitions in Ming Ceramics, Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1988, p. 131, no. 64, which also illustrates a blue and white box of the same form p. 130, no. 63. Another wucai box of similar form is in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Imperial Overglaze-Enamelled Wares in the Late Ming Dynasty, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1995, p. 23, no. 30. Compare, also, with a very rare Wanli-marked wucai incense burner with a separate liner inscribed with the Wanli reign mark, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2002, lot 173. The bottom section of a very similar wucai box to the present example was sold together with a wucai dish at Christie's New York, 3 December 1992, lot 278.