Lot 3724. A fine yellow-ground blue and white 'Dragon' bowl, Mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722);  13.1 cm., 5 1/8  in. Estimate 500,000 — 700,000 HKD (57,478 — 80,469 EUR). Lot sold 475,000 HKD (93,402 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's

finely potted with deep rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot to a flared rim, the interior centred with a medallion enclosing a cobalt-blue five-clawed scaly dragon depicted writhing ferociously amidst flames against a yellow ground, the exterior similarly picked out in underglaze blue against a yellow ground with a pair of dragons soaring through flames above a border of overlapping lotus petals encircling the foot, the dragons interrupted by a pair of lingzhi sprays supporting cinquefoil cartouches enclosing shouand fu characters respectively, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double-circle.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2006, lot 1532.

Note: Three closely related bowls were sold in these rooms, the first 27th April 1993, lot 242, the second, 14th November 1989, lot 285, and the third, 27th April 1993; and two were sold at Christie’s New York, one from the collection of Peter and Irene Scheinman, 23rd March 1995, lot 114, and the other from the collection of Frances Leventritt, 20th September 2005, lot 322. This design is also found on blue and white bowls with Kangxi marks and of the period, such as one in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 18.

The motif of two scaly five-clawed dragons with shou and fu characters rising from lingzhi sprays was first used on porcelain wares of the Jiajing reign (1522-66); see a Jiajing mark and period blue and white bowl decorated with this motif, sold in our New York rooms, 23rd March 2011, lot 721.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art Hong Kong, 07 Oct 2015