Chinese imperial porcelain large wucai saucer dish, Kangxi six-character mark within a double ring in underglaze blue and of the period. Photo Marchant

painted in the centre with two pairs of five-clawed dragons in yellow enamel and iron-red, and open-winged phoenix birds, all amongst flowering peony branches, buds and leaves, encircled in the cavetto by two further pairs, the dragons in green and aubergine, all between underglaze-blue double lines, the underside with further pairs of dragons and phoenix between flowering morning glory and chrysanthemum, also between underglaze blue double lines. 12 ⅝ inches, 32.1 cm diameter. The base with a six-character mark of Kangxi within a double ring in underglaze blue and of the period, 1662-1722. Price on request

From the collection of a private French family in Montmorency and recorded as being in the family for over three generations.

Notes: An identical dish, from the Baron Mitsubishi Collection, is illustrated by Torataro Yoneyama in Qing Porcelains from the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, no. 28, p. 38; another is illustrated by John Ayers in Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, no. 192, C. 99-1967.
A smaller dish of this pattern was included by Marchant in their catalogue of Recent Acquisitions, 2003, no. 5, pp. 10/11.
Two similar large dishes, perhaps slightly later in the Kangxi reign, are illustrated by Yang Boda in The Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics, IV, Qing Dynasty, no. 98 and by Yang Xin in Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Beijing, Vol. 38, no. 133, p. 145, respectively.
Dragon, long, and phoenix, feng, form the rebus longfeng chengxiang, ‘the dragon and phoenix present happy omens.’ The dragon and phoenix are considered the most auspicious of the mythical animals. This is a typical wedding motif and also represents good fortune and blessings for the Emperor and Empress.