The deep rounded sides flaring slightly at the rim, and incised on the exterior with two five-clawed dragons racing against a ground of similarly incised waves above a band of rocks and crashing waves, the dragons largely left in the biscuit and covered with a bright green glaze, as is the incised dragon and clouds forming a medallion in the interior, all within green line borders, box.

Provenance: Mathias Komor, New York, October 1949. 

Exhibited: Selections of Chinese Art from Private Collections in the Metropolitan Area, New York, China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1966-1967, no. 59.  

Note: It is more usual to find this decoration of incised and green-glazed dragons on dishes with Zhengde marks, rather than bowls. These type of ware with dragons painted in green enamel or left in the biscuit are perhaps the most well-known imperial Jingdezhen wares created during the Zhengde era. Potters would decorate these wares by incising the designs into the body before firing and cover them with a wax resist. The piece would then be glazed and fired. The green enamel would be painted on later over the unglazed biscuit and re-fired at a low temperature. 

A number of bowls of this design, date, and similar large size have been published. See the example from the H.R.H. Palmer Collection illustrated by S. Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, p. 103, pl. 79B; the bowl in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989 rev. ed., p. 162, no. 156; another from The Art Institute of Chicago, included in the exhibition, Ming Porcelains, A Retrospective, China House Gallery, China Institute in America, 1970-1971, no. 67; and one from the collection of H.R.N. Norton, included in the exhibition, Mostra d'Arte Cinese/Exhibition of Chinese Art, Venice, 1954, no. 687. 

Bowl with Dragon, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Zhengde mark and period (1506–21), mid-16th century

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Bowl with Dragon, Ming dynasty (1368–1644), Zhengde mark and period (1506–21), mid-16th century. Porcelain with incised decoration under and colored enamels over transparent glaze (Jingdezhen ware). H. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm); Diam. 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm). Anonymous Gift, 1963; 63.175.2 © 2000–2017 The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Christie's. THE FALK COLLECTION I: FINE CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART, 16 October 2001, New York