Lot Essay
Surviving Yue boxes of this size and quality of glaze are exceptionally rare. Compare to a round cosmetic box and cover (9.4 cm.) from
the Tang dynasty, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci: Yueyao, Shanghai, 1983, no. 154, which has a proportionally taller box but has the same incised band around the upper rim of the cover; and another Tang dynasty round cover (9 cm.) of this form with a remarkably similar glaze, recovered from the Shanglinhu Yue kiln site, Zhejiang province, which was the centre of production of Yue wares during the Tang and Song dynasties, see Shanglinhu Yueyao, Beijing, 2002, col. pl. 2/5; and a shallower cosmetic box (8.4 cm.) (fig. 1) similarly fired on spurs (fig. 2) uncovered from Kangling, the Mausoleum of Lady Ma (890-939), the principal wife of the second King of the Wuyue Kingdom, illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China – 9 – Zhejiang, Beijing, 2008, p. 145, no. 145, which the author suggests might be an example from a group of the finest Yue porcelain known as the mise ware.
the Tang dynasty, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci: Yueyao, Shanghai, 1983, no. 154, which has a proportionally taller box but has the same incised band around the upper rim of the cover; and another Tang dynasty round cover (9 cm.) of this form with a remarkably similar glaze, recovered from the Shanglinhu Yue kiln site, Zhejiang province, which was the centre of production of Yue wares during the Tang and Song dynasties, see Shanglinhu Yueyao, Beijing, 2002, col. pl. 2/5; and a shallower cosmetic box (8.4 cm.) (fig. 1) similarly fired on spurs (fig. 2) uncovered from Kangling, the Mausoleum of Lady Ma (890-939), the principal wife of the second King of the Wuyue Kingdom, illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China – 9 – Zhejiang, Beijing, 2008, p. 145, no. 145, which the author suggests might be an example from a group of the finest Yue porcelain known as the mise ware.