Lot 515. An extremely rare pair of polychrome-enameled 'Dragon' bowls, Qing dynasty, Kangxi period (1662-1722). Diameter 4 3/8  in., 11.1 cm. Estimate US$20,000 — 30,000. Lot sold 30,000USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

 each with finely-potted rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a gently everted rim, the exterior delicately enameled with two sinuous three-clawed dragons each pursuing a 'flaming pearl', each beast with a muscular chest and forearm and a serpentine tail issuing flame-like scrolls, the breath emitted in foliate wisps of qi, iron-red line borders at the rim and foot, the interior with a lotus medallion within an iron-red double circle, the base with an apocryphal Jiajing mark (2).

Provenance: Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978).

Note: A small number of Jiajing marked polychrome-enameled saucers of related form are known. The first, painted with tree shrew and grapes, and the second with butterflies and rocks, both formerly in the collection of Henry C. Schwab were gifted to the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, in 1941, acc. nos 1941.561.1-2; another, painted with grapes, in the Percival David Collection at the British Museum, London, is illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Polychrome Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1978, pl. 152, and like the present example, is attributed to the Kangxi period.