Lot 33. A small blue and white 'dragon' jar, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619); diameter 6.5 cm., 2 1/2  in. Estimate 500,000 - 700,000 HKD (49,367 — 69,114 EUR). Lot sold 687,500 HKD (67,880 EUR). Courtesy Sotheby's

of compressed globular form, the rounded sides rising from a recessed base to a short tapering neck, brightly decorated in deep shades of cobalt with two five-clawed dragons striding in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl', with wide open jaws, a shaggy mane, and a sinuous scaly body issuing flames, all between two borders ofruyi at the foot and shoulder, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark arranged in three lines within a double ring.

LITERATURE: Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 722.

NOTE: Wanli jars of this small size are extremely rare, but a companion jar from the Songde Tang collection was included in the exhibition The Fame of Flame. Imperial Wares of the Jiajing and Wanli Periods, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2009, cat. no. 51.

A similar small jar of Wanli mark and period, decorated with a dragon reserved in white on a blue ground, was sold in these rooms, 24th November 1987, lot 37. A polychrome jar with two dragons in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 41; and a small polychrome jar of similar shape and size, painted with a lotus scroll, is in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi/Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections : A Series of Monographs. Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 1-91.

Sotheby's. The Meiyintang Collection, Part V - An Important Selection of Imperial Chinese Porcelains. Hong Kong | 08 avr. 2013