Lot 3278. An embroidered pale yellow silk dragon roundel, 18th century; 11 ½ in. (29.2 cm.) diam. Estimate $5,000 – 6,000. Price Realized $11,875. © Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The roundel is worked in couched gold thread with a leaping, five-clawed, front-facing dragon protecting a flaming pearl amidst flames and ruyi-shaped clouds interspersed with bats and Buddhist emblems above crashing waves, all worked in blue, ochre, green, and red silk thread, mounted.

Note: A nearly identical roundel is published by J.E. Vollmer, Silks for Thrones and Altars: Chinese Costumes and Textiles from the Liao Through the Qing dynasty, Myrna Myers, Paris, 2003, p. 40, no. 14.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 15 - 16 March 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza