Lot 40. An aubergine-ground yellow and cobalt-blue enamelled ‘Dragon’ bowl, Jiajing mark and period (1522-1566);  14cm., 5 1/2 in. Estimate 20,000 — 25,000 GBP (27,130 - 33,913 EUR). Lot sold 75,000 GBP. Photo courtesy Sotheby's.

the deep rounded sides supported on a tapered foot, the exterior incised and decorated with two yellow-enamelled five-clawed dragons pacing amongst clouds above a lappet band, the interior similarly decorated in cobalt-blue enamels with a central medallion enclosing a sprig of lingzhi, encircled by further lingzhi scrolls and a chevron band, all reserved against an aubergine ground, the base incised with a six-character reign mark within double circles, Japanese wood box. Quantité: 2.

Provenance: Mayuyama & Co. Ltd., Tokyo.

Exhibition: Gen Min meihin ten [Exhibition of Yuan and Ming ceramics], The Japan Ceramic Society, Tokyo, 1956, cat. no. 149.

Note: This bowl is unusual in its combination of bright overglaze enamels, reflecting the great level of experimentation exercised by the Jingdezhen potters active in the Jiajing reign. Suzanne G. Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 191, notes that potters of the mid-16th century ‘were adept and imaginative with their palette of enamels and sought to achieve a maximum number of effects’. The use of low-fired cobalt on the interior of this vessel appears to have been inspired by fahua wares produced in both Northern and Southern China from the 14th century onwards. These glazes are watery when running thin, while deep and opaque when thick, thus allowing the potter to achieve an attractive shading effect. 

Bowls of this type are rare, although a closely related bowl from the Su Lin An collection, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 31st October 1995, lot 322, where the lingzhi scroll on the interior is described as painted in underglaze blue.

Bowls decorated with yellow dragons over an aubergine ground but undecorated on the interior, are more commonly known with Wanli marks and of the period; see one in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, pl. 11:143; and another, from the T.Y. Chao collection, sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 16th May 1977, lot 51, and 19th May 1987, lot 258.

Sotheby's. The Soul of Japanese Aesthetics – The Tsuneichi Inoue Collection, Londres, 13 mai 2015, 10:00 AM