China, Wanli Period (1572 – 1620)Dimensions:2"(5.2 cm) H, 8 5/8"(22 cm) diaThe round box heavily potted bowl with everted rim on a pronounced footring, with mallow flower form interior of six petal shapes surrounding a floral silhouette central bowl. The petals and centre painted in underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze enamels of 2 red, 2 blue dragons and 3 red and blue phoenixes amid leaves, florals and buds. The exterior with two sinuo dragons and flying phoenixes amid the same leaves and florals of the interior, and a multi-colour key fret border at the base. The footring with an underglaze blue six character mark of Wanli and of the period.This style of Wanli wucai sweetmeats box appears to have been made in two basic bowl designs – the moremon with a raised lip around the perimeter of thepartments allowing the cover and base rims to meet flh, and the less often seen with an unglazed edge with a cover wider than the base such that the cover rim closes over the base rim. This bowl appears to be of the latter design. Glaze overflow into the areas of the unglazed rim is proof that the bowl is unaltered and follows its original design. An example of another sweetmeats bowl, also Wanli mark and period, of similar size and decorated in birds and flowers in a rockery garden can be found in Sotheby’s New York sale, 22MAR2011, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art from the J. T. Tai Co., Lot 300./en/auctions/ecatalogue/2011/informing-the-eye-of-the-collector-chinese-ceramics-and-works-of-art-from-jt-tai-co-n08722/lot.300.htmlA similar Wanli mark and period dragon and phoenix sweetmeats bowl can be found in Sotheby’s London sale of 6NOV2019, lot 145 from the Bosch Reitz family collections, a European noble family acquired about 1900./en/buy/auction/2019/important-chinese-art/a-wucai-dragon-and-phoenix-sweetmeat-box-wanli明萬曆 五彩穿花龍鳳紋攢盒 《大明萬曆年製》款Condition Report:Scattered chips and frits to edges. Expected wear and imperfections. The cover is missing.口沿見些許磕及剝釉，整體見正常磨損及窯燒瑕疵。蓋子缺失。Provenance: Sotheby’s New York来源：纽约苏富比