A fine and rare blue and white 'dragon medallion' bowl, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735)
Lot 5. A fine and rare blue and white 'dragon medallion' bowl, Yongzheng mark and period (1723-1735). Diameter 11.9 cm, 4¾ in. Estimate: 30,000 - 50,000 GBP. Lot sold 137500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's.
with gently rounded sides rising from a concave base to a slightly everted rim, painted to the exterior in rich tones of cobalt with four circular roundels each depicting a pair of interlaced archaistic kui dragons, repeated to the centre of the interior and surrounded by a border of stylised pomegranates, the base inscribed with a six-character reign mark within a double circle in underglaze blue.
Note: Finely painted with roundels of interlocking dragons against a brilliant white ground, this charming bowl was inspired by a Chenghua period (r. 1465-1487) design. See for example two shallow washers painted with roundels of sinuous makara dragons, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the Museum's Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain Wares, Taipei, 2003, cat. nos 49 and 50.
A pair of closely related bowls from the collection of William and Jennifer Shaw was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 20th November 1984, lot 384, and again in our New York rooms, 16th March 2016, lot 300. See also a pair of bowls with this design rendered in pencilled lines sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30th October 1995, lot 776; and a single bowl also sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 20th March 1990, lot 768.
Sotheby's. Imperial Porcelain - A Private Collection, London, 6 November 2019