Lot 124. The Leshantang Collection. A blue and white 'dragon' zhadou, Mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521); w. 15.4 cm. Lot Sold 2,032,000 HKD (Estimate 300,000 - 500,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2023

the rounded body rising from a splayed foot to a wide trumpet-shaped neck, painted on the body and on both inside and the outside of the neck with three pairs of five-clawed dragons soaring sinuously amongst dense scrolling lotus, with a ruyi border encircling the foot, the base inscribed with a four-character reign mark within a double circle.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 18th March 1991, lot 524.

Literature: The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 9.

Exhibited: The Exquisite Chinese Artifacts, Collection of Ching Wan Society, Museum of History, Taipei, 1995, cat. no. 105.

Note: his dragon-and-lotus design was particularly favoured at the Zhengde court and became one of the most characteristic ornamentations of imperial porcelains of this reign, where the design also appears on dishes, bowls and stem bowls of this reign. The form of this jar - globular shape with its wide everted rim - was derived from archaic bronze zun, and was later transferred to the porcelain medium in the early 15th century. Over the centuries, the rim became wider and the body more compact.

Zhengde zhadou of this type are held in museums and important private collections worldwide; see an example in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Hongzhi and Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2017, vol. 2, cat. no. 181; another in the Taipei Palace Museum (accession no. zhongci-004978N000000000); one currently on display at the Hong Kong Palace Museum; and a further example from the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum (accession no. PDF,A.682).

Examples held in prominent private collections include one from the collections of L.F. Hay, H.M. Knight and Frederick Knight, sold three times by Sotheby's in 1939, 1982 and lastly in our New York rooms, 15th June 1983, lot 278; another from the Meiyintang Collection, sold in these rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 60; one from the collection of Ira and Nancy Koger, first sold at Christie’s New York, 19th September 2006, lot 245, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th October 2013, lot 212; and a further example from the Tianminlou Collection, sold in these rooms, 3rd April 2019, lot 13.