A biscuit-decorated 'Dragon' bowl, Mark and period of Hongzhi. Photo: Sotheby's.

with deep rounded sides rising from a short slightly tapered foot to a gently everted rim, applied overall with a rich transparent glaze, save for a five-clawed dragon incised on the interior writhing among stylised clouds within a central medallion, its head, scaly body and limbs reserved on the biscuit and fired pale orange, the exterior with two five-clawed dragons striding above crashing waves and rocks, similarly incised and reserved on the biscuit, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character reign mark within a double ring; 16.5 cm., 6 1/2  in. Estimation 200,000 — 300,000 HKD (20,120 - 30,180 EUR)

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2006, lot 1389.

A closely related bowl in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated inMonochrome Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book 2, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 1; another is published in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, vol. 1, Geneva, 1999, pl. 68; and a third from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, included in the Oriental Ceramics Society exhibition Ming Polychrome Porcelain, London, 1950, cat. no. 78, was sold in our London rooms, 27th November 1962, lot 20, and again at Christie's London, 25th March 1974, lot 175. See a Hongzhi example in a dish form in the current sale, lot 225. 

Sotheby's. Important Ming Porcelain from a Private Collection. Hong Kong | 08 oct. 2013. http://www.sothebys.com