A small polychrome 'Dragon-Fish' dish, Ming dynasty, 16th century. Estimate 15,000 — 20,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

the curved sides rising to slightly everted rim, on a tapered and undercut footring, the interior painted in iron-red, green, turquoise and yellow enamels with a lively winged dragon-fish chasing a flaming pearl within a double ring, the underside with two similar dragons amidst flaming cloud-scrolls, the base with an apocryphal six-character mark Zhengtong bingchen nian zhi (corresponding to 1436) in iron-red enamels within a double circle, Japanese wood box/ Diameter 5 3/8  in., 13.6 cm

Provenance: Ryuzaboro Umehara Collection, according to inscription on box.

Notes: The flying dragon-fish, feiyu, refers to a mythical animal and variant of dragon that was a popular motif from the Yuan into the early Ming dynasty. Distinguished by their outstretched bat wings, and scaly body lacking claws and with a fish tail, these creatures first appear on porcelains at the end of the 15th and were popular as a subject matter through the 16th century making it difficult to date the present dish precisely. A similar dish from the Idemitsu Museum Tokyo was included and discussed at length in the exhibit In Pursuit of the Dragon, Traditions and Transitions in Ming Ceramics, Seattle Art Museum, Japan, 1988, cat. no. 47. The Idemitsu dish bears a four-character inscription on the base Xinchou shang yong, which corresponds to a sixty year cycle as 1421, 1481, 1541, or 1601. Based on stylistic reasons and similar examples it is suggested that 1541 is the most likely date. However another example from the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum is given a late 15th century date. The dish, previously from the Palmer Collection and sold Sotheby's London, 27th November 1962, is illustrated in Ming Wilson, Rare Marks on Chinese Porcelain, London, 1999, cat. no. 2, and inscribed with two characters shang yong (for use of supreme) and ascribed to the Chenghua / Hongzhi period.  A similar example with the same shang yong mark is in the Palace Museum ascribed to the Hongzhi period, illustrated in Ye Peilan, Wucai Mingci, Taipei, 1996, no. 17. A pair of similar dishes from the collection of Sir A.A. Akroyd sold in our London rooms, 17th May 1966, lots 19 and 20. Examples of this dish bear other marks; Zhao fu zhi yong (for use in Zhao principality), or Zhao fu zhi zao (made for Zhao principality).

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor – Ceramics, New York, 17 mars 2015, 10:00 AM