Lot 3120. A fine rare late Ming polychrome enamel yellow-ground dish, Wanli six-character mark within double-circles and of the period (1573-1619); 10 1/2 in. (26.5 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 300,000 - HKD 400,000. Price Realized HKD 500,000. © Christie's Images Ltd. 2010

Decorated on the biscuit in turquoise, green and aubergine with two horizontal five-clawed dragons in confronted posture divided by a band of clouds, above foaming waves crashing against rockwork, within a band of six dragon roundels alternately ascending and descending encircling the well, the exterior with detached sprigs of peach, prunus, tree peony and pomegranate, all on a mustard-yellow ground, Japanese wood box. 

Note: A dish of similar size and design in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum - Enamelled Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book III, Cafa Company, Hong Kong, 1966, pp. pp. 64-5, pls. 19a-b. Compare with another dish of the same design in the Percival David Foundation Collection, illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Collection, Yomiuri Shimbun, Osaka, 1998, p. 95, no. 64; a pair of dishes sold at Christie's London, 11 June 1990, lot 199; and a single dish sold at Christie's London, 15 July 1981, lot 96.

The same distinctive palette can be seen on a Wanli-marked 'dragon' jar sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26 April 2004, lot 1000 and on an altar set in the British Museum illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 341, nos. 11:170, 11:171 and 11:172.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 1 December 2010, Hong Kong