A rare large blue and white "dragon" dish. Yongzheng mark and period

The wide vessel with curved sides rising to a flat everted rim, the interior painted in deep underglaze-blue with a large central roundel enclosing a writhing five-clawed dragon confronting the viewer head-on, clasping between its two front claws a shou medallion, surrounded by scrolling clouds and flames, the deep cavetto with four smaller dragons striding among clouds and flames, all below the band of cresting waves on the rim, the exterior painted with elaborate waves breaking against five rockwork mountains, all atop a short foot, the recessed base with a six-character mark within a double-circle. diameter 17 3/4 in., 45.1 cm - Estimate: 150,000—200,000 USD

Provenance: Mathias Komor, New York.
Acquired from the above by the collection of Evelyn Annenberg Hall (December 1964).
Christie's New York, 29th March 2006, lot 131.
S. Marchant & Son, London (until March 2007).
Thereafter with the present owner.

Literature and references: Recent Acquisitions 2007, S. Marchant & Son, London, 2007, fig. 5, pp. 14-15.

Note:  This present example is rare for its idiosyncratic depiction of the shou medallion. In comparable works, the dragon is rendered in a similar manner -- head-on and writhing within the roundel. However, this one is notable for the way in which the dragon's three-clawed arms are tightly gripping the shou character. In the other works mentioned below, the character floats freely between the five-clawed arms. Compare a similar dish, formerly in The T.Y. Chao Private and Family Trust Collections, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 18th November 1986, lot 80. It was included in the exhibition of Ch'ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1973, cat.no. 61, and was also exhibited in Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from The T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, cat.no. 81. Another early 18th century dish of this design in the Royal Ontario Museum is illustrated in J.E. Vollmer, E.J. Keall and E. Nagai-Berthrong, Silk Roads - China Ships, The Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1983, cat.p. 229. Four similar dishes of the same size have also been sold in our Hong Kong rooms: 2nd November 1998, lot 389; 1st November 1999, lot 380; 21st May 1985, lot 127; and 23rd May 1978, lot 117. Another was sold in our London rooms, 9th July 1974, lot 302.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art including Chinese and Japanese Art from The Collection of Frieda and Milton Rosenthal. 16 Sep 08. www.sotheby's.com