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Pair Of Chinese Porcelain Wucai Lotus Form Cosmetic Boxes & Covers Cira 19th C
Pair of Chinese Porcelain Wucai Lotus Form Cosmetic Boxes & Covers Cira 19th C
- Origin & Style: The boxes feature the distinctive Chinese Wucai polychrome enamel decoration, which includes underglaze blue and overglaze iron red, green, and other colors.
- Design: They have a five-lobed or foliate shape and are decorated with writhing dragons amidst clouds, chasing a flaming pearl. This dragon and phoenix motif is highly auspicious, often symbolizing the Emperor and Empress or marital bliss.
- Period: While the design is characteristic of the Wanli period, many similar items bearing apocryphal Wanli reign marks were produced later in the 19th and 20th centuries during the Qing dynasty. The pieces in the image include custom wooden stands.
- The mark on the base of the porcelain object reads in a six-character, two-column format, which is a traditional Chinese reign mark style.
- The characters read from right to left, top to bottom, and translate as.
- 大明萬曆年製 (Dà Míng Wàn Lì Nián Zhì)
- Translation: "Made in the years of the Wanli reign of the Great Ming dynasty"
- The Wanli Period: The Wanli Emperor reigned during the Ming Dynasty from 1573 to 1620. This period is known for its distinctive and high-quality porcelain.
- Apocryphal Marks: It is very common for later porcelain pieces (from the Qing dynasty or even 20th century) to bear earlier, prestigious reign marks as a sign of reverence or to suggest age.
- Authentication: To determine if the piece is genuinely from the Wanli period or a later copy, a specialist would need to examine the quality of the porcelain body, glaze, painting style, and overall craftsmanship, as authentic imperial pieces have specific characteristics not easily replicated.
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