Lot 15. The Au Bak Ling Collection. A rare carved yellow and green enamelled 'dragon' bowl, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735); 23 cm diam. Price realised HKD 2,016,000 (Estimate HKD 800,000-1,200,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2024.

The bowl has rounded sides that rise to a flared rim, the exterior is carved in relief with a band of six archaic dragons with entwined tails, alternately looking forward and backward, picked out in green enamel against a lemon-yellow ground.

Provenance: Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 23 May 1978, lot 168.

Literature: Sotheby’s Hong Kong - Twenty Years, 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 3682

Note: Bowls of this pattern were produced during the 18th century and reflect the Imperial Court’s fascination for archaic bronze forms and motifs. Compare to a closely related bowl from Gulland Gift, illustrated by John Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, no. 211. See also a Yongzheng yellow ground bowl of same form and pattern, but with the dragons picked out in pale turquoise, from the Robert Chang Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2002, lot 222.

Christie's. The Au Bak Ling Collection: The Inaugural Sale, Hong Kong, 26 September 2024