Lot 3206. A blue and white 'dragon' washer, mark and period of Wanli (1573-1619); 22.6 cm., 9 in. Estimate 250,000 — 350,000 HKD. Lot Sold 680,000 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the shallow rounded sides rising from a tapered foot, painted around the low sides with a frieze of four dragons pacing amid flickering flames in pursuit of 'flaming pearls', below a border of bajixiang interspersed with lingzhi sprigs at the rim covered in a pale wash, the footring encircled with a continuous scroll border, the base inscribed with a six-character mark in underglaze-blue.

Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7th May 2002, lot 597.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 08 april 2011