Lot 86. Property from the Carl and Eivor Oldertz Collection, Stockholm. A green-ground aubergine-enamelled 'dragon' bowl, Mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722). Diameter 11.2 cm. Lot Sold 20,320 EUR (Estimate 15,000 - 25,000 EUR) © Sotheby's 2025

the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.

Provenance: Phillips London, 12th June 1991, lot 115 (part lot).

Note: According to Chuimei Ho and Bennet Bronson, the Emperor dined rarely together with his family, but did so on the occasion of the Lantern Festival, the fifteenth day of the New Year. On this occasion the ladies who dined with him were provided with precisely prescribed ceramic and lacquer utensils according to their rank. Green-glazed porcelains with purple dragons were then apparently reserved for sixth-rank guiren consorts; see Splendours of China's Forbidden City. The Glorious Reign of Emperor Qianlong, 2004, pp. 197-202.

Two-coloured 'dragon' bowls and dishes of this type were made throughout the Qing dynasty, starting in the Kangxi reign, but Kangxi examples tend to be extremely rare. The present colour combination is also attested on Yongzheng, Qianlong, Jiaqing, Daoguang and Guangxu examples, and perhaps others, with the largest number dating from the Daoguang period.

Compare a similar Kangxi bowl, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, and published in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], vol. 2, Beijing, 2005, pl. 88; another bowl in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Wang Qingzheng, ed., Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Shanghai, 1998, pl. 196; and two others from the collection of Helen and Peter Lin, included in the exhibition Joined Colours. Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., 1993, cat. nos 19 and 20. Also compare a larger Kangxi bowl of less flared rim, also decorated with dragons in the same colour scheme, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics. A New Standard Guide, London, 1996, pl. 615; and another bowl included in Chinese Porcelain from the 15th to the 18th Century, Eskenazi Ltd, London, 2006, cat. no. 11.