Lot 3105. A blue and white and yellow-enamelled 'dragon' bowl, Seal mark and period of Qianlong (1736-1795); 10.5 cm, 4 1/8  in. Estimate 380,000 — 500,000 HKD. Lot sold 562,500 HKD. Courtesy Sotheby's

thinly potted with deep rounded sides rising to an everted rim, vividly decorated around the exterior with two yellow five-clawed dragons striding amidst flames in pursuit of flaming pearls, the interior similarly decorated with a central medallion enclosing a writhing dragon, all reserved on an underglaze-blue ground, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, London, 1965.
Collection of Anthony Evans, Kent, collection no. 425.

Exhibited: Imperial Chinese Porcelain, Ceramics & Works of Art, Marchant, London, 2013, cat. no. 33.

Note: A similar bowl was included in the exhibition Qing Mark and Period Monochromes and Enamelled Wares, S. Marchant & Son, London, 1981, cat. no. 21.

Anthony Evans developed his love of Chinese porcelain from his father who was an accountant, working for the Kailan Mining Administration in Tianjin in the 1920s, and became a regular client of Marchant from the 1960s.

Sotheby's. Marchant – Fifty Qing Imperial Porcelains, Hong Kong, 11 July 2020