Lot 30. A rare green-enamelled ‘dragon’ dish, Mark and period of Hongzhi (1488-1505). Estimate 300,000 — 400,000 HKD (35,083 - 46,777 EUR). Photo Sotheby's.

the deep rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a flared rim, finely carved in the biscuit and enamelled in bright translucent green, the interior with a sinuous five-clawed dragon writhing amid scrolling clouds within a line border repeated at the rim, the exterior decorated with two further dragons striding on a ground of finely incised foaming waves between line borders, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle, the green enamel on the fifth claw of each dragon effaced - 17.6 cm, 6 7/8  in.

Provenance: John Sparks Ltd, London, 1928.
Collection of Mr. and Mrs. R.H.R. Palmer (no. 173), from 1928 to 1962 (£10). 
Sotheby's London, 27th November 1962, lot 19 (£1700). 
John Sparks Ltd, London, 1962 (£ 1700).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1962 (£1700).

Exhibition: Polychrome Porcelain of the Ming and Manchu Dynasties, The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1950 (manuscript catalogue), cat. no. 82.

Bibliography: Soame Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, pl. 79a.

Note: Imperial porcelain dishes with green-enamelled dragon designs first appeared in the Chenghua period (1465-87), with and sometimes without reign marks. More were manufactured in later periods of the Ming dynasty, particularly during the Hongzhi (1488-1505) and Zhengde (1506-21) periods, and almost always with reign marks. The various periods of the Qing dynasty spanning from Kangxi (1662-1722) to Guangxu (1875-1908) also saw the production of ‘green dragon’ dishes, demonstrating their importance as a classic and representative type of porcelain favoured at the Ming and Qing imperial courts. As well as saucer-shaped dishes, matching bowls were made in this decorative scheme. While dragons on most Qing dishes are only painted over the glaze in green, on Ming examples they are usually first incised and reserved in the biscuit during firing and their silhouettes then filled with green enamel for a second firing. This extra procedure of incising gives a somewhat three dimensional touch to the finished product.

‘Green dragon’ dishes from the Hongzhi period are rarer than examples from the Zhengde reign. A dish of similar design and size is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 7: 17. Two larger Hongzhi dishes are respectively illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1966, vol. 1, pl. 5; and Edgar E. Bluett, Ming and Ch’ing Porcelain, London, 1933, pl. XV, no. 46. Compare also a Hongzhi-marked dish illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, pl. 693. Two dishes similar to the present piece were sold in our London rooms, 11th March 1969, lot 106, and 26th June 1973, lot 224. A related Hongzhi dish was sold at Christie’s London, 14th June 1982, lot 95, and is illustrated in Anthony du Boulay,Christie’s Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, London, 1984, p. 162.

The present dish was originally painted with five-clawed dragons, but the green enamel for the fifth claws of all its dragons was later erased, probably to dissimulate the imperial provenance of the dish, making it exceedingly rare among such Hongzhi dishes. A Zhengde dish, with the fifth claws of its green dragons similarly erased, was sold in these rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 159.

Sotheby's. The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 06 avr. 2016, 10:00 AM