Lot 56. A yellow-ground green-enamelled ‘dragon medallion’ bowl, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735). Estimate HKD 400,000 — 600,000 (45,157 - 67,735 EUR). Lot Sold 1,062,500 HKD (119,947 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

with deep rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a gently flared rim, the exterior finely incised in the biscuit and enamelled in translucent green with four medallions alternating with pairs of ruyi cloud scrolls, each medallion formed from a ferocious five-clawed dragon coiled around flame wisps in pursuit of a flaming pearl, all above a band of lotus lappets, the interior similarly decorated with a central medallion enclosing a five-clawed scaly dragon reaching out to a flaming pearl, all reserved against a brilliant opaque egg-yolk yellow ground, the white base inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue within a double circle - 14.3 cm, 5 5/8  in.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 14th November 1967, lot 124 (£400). 
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1967 (£400).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1967 (£400).

Note: Yongzheng mark and period bowls of this type, finely incised with dragon roundels and ruyi-shaped clouds, derive from Kangxi period prototypes, 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. 87. The popularity of this design continued during the Qianlong period, as seen in a pair of bowls with Qianlong marks and of the period, included in the exhibition Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, vol. 2, cat. no. 110.

A closely related bowl was included in the exhibition The Wonders of the Potter’s Palette, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 54; one from the collection of H.P. Hebblethwaite, was sold in our London rooms, 2nd/3rd December 1974, lot 488, and again in these rooms, 22nd May 1979, lot 217; and another from the collection of B.C. Tattenhall, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Enamelled Polychrome Porcelain of the Manchu Dynasty, London, 1951, cat. no. 75, was sold in our London rooms, 12th December 1989, lot 412.