Lot 3433. A very rare pair of blue-ground underglaze-red decorated 'dragon' bowls, Kangxi six-character marks within double circles and of the period (1662-1722); 6 1/4 in. (15.6 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 1,800,000 - HKD 2,500,000 Price Realized HKD 2,200,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Each bowl is well potted with deep rounded sides rising from a tapering foot to a flared rim. The exterior is incised and decorated in underglaze red with a pair of five-clawed dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls, against a blue ground of waves above a band of lappets encircling the foot. The interior of each is covered in a bluish-white glaze, box.

Provenance: T.Y. Chao Family Trust, no. 74
T.Y. Chao Family Collection, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 19 May 1987, lot 73.

Exhibited: Hong Kong Museum of Art, Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong, January - March 1978, p. 74, no. 77.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Including The Su Zhu An Collection of Inkstones), Hong Kong, 27 November 2013