Lot 36. An iron-red painted ‘dragon’ dish, mark and period of Jiajing. Estimate HKD 100,000 ~ 150,000 (11,289 — 16,934 EUR). Lot Sold 525,000 HKD (59,268 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

with rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a flaring rim, boldly painted in rich iron-red washes accented with sharp outlines in a deeper hue, the exterior with a pair of five-clawed scaly dragons striding amongst scrolling clouds, their muscular legs with flame-like projections and terminating to sharp claws, all between line borders at the rim and the foot, the interior left plain, inscribed to the base in underglaze-blue with six-character reign mark within a double circle - 19.3 cm, 7 5/8  in.

Provenance: Collection of Howard Paget (1866-1945). 
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1946 (£7).
Collection of Charles J. Aron, from 1946 to 1958 (£22).
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1958 (£50). 
Collection of Rev. R. Bagley, from 1958 to 1965 (£85).
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1965 (£100).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1965 (£165).

Literature: Edgar E. Bluett, Ming and Ch'ing Porcelains, London, 1933, pl. XVIII, no. 55. 

Note: A closely related dish from the collection of Sir Percival David and now in the British Museum, London, is published in Margaret Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares, London, 1966, pl. A727. Compare also a group of large bowls similarly decorated with striding dragons in iron red, with a Jiajing mark in underglaze blue and of the period, such as one from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains. Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Shanghai, 2009, pl. 5; another in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, published in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 195; and a third dish, from the collections of Mrs B.Z. Seligman and Raymond F.A. Riesco, sold twice in our London rooms, 11th May 1954, lot 48, and 23rd June 1970, lot 48.

Sotheby's. The Pilkington Collection of Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 06 Apr 2016