Lot 20. A rare Imperial doucai 'dragon' dish, Yongzheng six-character mark and of the period (1723-1735); 20.1cm (8in) diam. Estimate HK$ 800,000 - 1,200,000 (€86,000 - 130,000). Sold for HK$ 1,000,000 (€107,822).  Photo: Bonhams.

The delicately potted dish brilliantly decorated in a characteristic wucai palette of darker and lighter green, iron-red, aubergine and yellow enamels with a ferocious front-facing five-clawed dragon soaring amidst flames and colourful clouds reaching a flaming pearl, encircled by five striding dragons chasing flaming pearls painted in underglaze blue beneath a gilt rim, the exterior vividly decorated with four phoenix in flight divided by stylised cloud wisps.

Provenance: Frank Caro, New York, by repute
An Italian private collection, acquired from the above in the 1970s
Christie's London, 14 May 2013, lot 224

Note: The doucai 'dragon' dish is very rare with similar examples in important museum collections; see a similar dish in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, museum no.C.45-1928; and another formerly in the Tsui Museum of Art, illustrated in The Tsui Musuem of Art, Chinese Ceramics IV, Qing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1995, colour pl.126.

Polychrome qinghua wucai. Dish, porcelain painted in underglaze blue and enamel colours, China (Jingdezhen), Qing dynasty, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735) © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

The dragon decoration on the present dish appears to be a direct continuation of the Kangxi period, as demonstrated in the design of the dragon on a polychrome enamelled dish, Kangxi, illustrated in The Complete Collection of the Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Shanghai, 2007, p.117, pl.107. The similarity of the central design to the Kangxi period example indicates an early Yongzheng date for the present lot, which is however of a more refined quality in its potting and enamelling characteristic of the Yongzheng period.

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 28 Nov 2017, 14:00 HKT, HONG KONG, ADMIRALTY