Lot 3602. A fine doucai 'dragon' dish, mark and period of Yongzheng (1723-1735); 17.1 cm, 6 3/4  in. Estimate 1,200,000 — 1,800,000 HKD (152,796 - 229,194 USD). Lot Sold 1,687,500 HKD (214,869 USD). Courtesy Sotheby's.

thinly potted with shallow rounded sides rising from a straight foot, painted in bright enamels within an underglaze-blue outline, depicting on the interior a central medallion enclosing a five-clawed dragon writhing amongst cloud scrolls, its arm extended reaching for a flaming pearl, all encircled by clusters of multi-coloured cloud scrolls, the exterior with cresting and foaming tumultuous waves below further cloud scrolls, inscribed to the base with a six-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Christie’s Hong Kong, 8th October 1990, lot 505.

Note: This piece belongs to a distinct group of doucai dishes painted with ferocious side-facing dragons at the centre and with colourful wispy clouds on the well. Known as wuse yun (Five-coloured clouds), they were considered potent auspicious omens, and multiple sightings of them are recorded in palace documents (Lin Lina, ‘Yongzgheng chao zhu xiangrui fuying [Auspicious signs of the Yongzheng period]', Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2009, pp. 391-393). Auspicious motifs flourished in the Yongzheng period, probably due to the somewhat unusual circumstances that led the Emperor to the throne, which raised persistent questions over his right to rule and thus made him particularly receptive of these designs. 

Dishes of this pattern are known in a variety of sizes ranging from 11 to 20 cm in diameter. A pair of closely related dishes from the collection of Madam L. Vente, was sold at Christie’s Paris, 15th June 2004, lot 186, one of which was sold again in our Paris rooms, 9th June 2010, lot 84; a slightly larger one in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, was included in the Museum’s exhibition The Wonders of the Potter’s Palette, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 45; and another from the Edward T. Chow collection, was sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 141. See also a pair of slightly smaller dishes of this design, included in the Min Chiu Society Silver Jubilee exhibition Anthology of Chinese Art, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1985, cat. no. 175; and another dish illustrated in Ye Peilang, Beauty of Ceramics. Gems of the Doucai, vol. 6, Taipei, 1993, pl. 104, and sold in these rooms, 30th April 1991, lot 120A.

Sotheby's. An Important Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 08 Oct 2019