Lot 441. A pair of yellow-ground green-enameled 'Dragon' bowls, Yongzheng marks and period (1723-1735). Diameter 6 in., 15.2 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 50,000 USD. Lot sold 87,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's

finely potted with wide rounded sides rising from a narrow tapering foot to an everted rim, finely incised and enameled around the exterior with two striding dragons in pursuit of 'flaming pearls', all above a border of crashing waves circling the foot, six-character marks in underglaze blue (2). 

Provenance: Collection of Sir Louis Sterling (1879 - 1958).
Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London, 1964.
Ralph Stillman, New York.

Note: The combination of overglaze yellow and green is based on Ming dynasty prototypes and first occurs in the Yongle period (1403-1424) at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen. By the Qing dynasty however, the most esteemed color was the yellow glaze. According to Wang Qingzheng in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, p. xvi, imperial regulations stated that use of wares completely glazed in yellow was restricted to the Emperor, Empress and Great Empress Dowager, and that the combination of yellow with green dragons might have been used by the imperial concubine of the 2nd rank.

A pair of nearly identical bowls with Yongzheng marks was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition, Splendour of the Qing dynasty, Hong Kong Museum of Art, June 9 - August 2, 1992, p. 283, no. 150.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM