Lot 78.  Property of a Spanish private collection. A green-enameled blue-ground 'Dragon' bowl, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (1662-1722), 13 cm high. Sold for €10,240. © Bonhams 2001-2024

With deep rounded sides rising to a flared rim, painted around the exterior in bright green enamels over an underglaze blue ground with two ferocious dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls amidst clusters of cloud and wisps of flames, the dragons each with their fifth claw covered by black enamel, all above two rows of overlapping petals around the base, the interior similarly decorated with a central medallion enclosing a single coiled green dragon on a blue ground, the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.

Note: Compare this bowlwith a 'dragon' dish painted with green enamel on an underglaze-blue ground, the dragon's fifth claw similarly blacked out, in the Baur Collection, Geneva, illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol.2, Geneva, 1999, pp.36-37. Another similar bowl of this design is illustrated by Lu Minghua, Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, p.300, no.194. Compare also with a similar green-enamelled blue-ground bowl, Kangxi mark and period, sold in Sotheby's New York, 23 September 2020, lot 560.

Bonhams. CHINESE ART, 12 June 2024, Paris