Lot 52. A doucai green-enamelled ‘dragon’ dish, mark and period of Kangxi (1662-1722). Estimate HKD 500,000 — 700,000 (56,446 - 79,024 EUR). Lot Sold 812,500 HKD (91,724 EUR). Photo: Sotheby's.

well potted with shallow rounded sides supported on a gently tapering foot, painted in translucent green enamel within underglaze-blue outlines, the interior with a central medallion enclosing a five-clawed dragon writhing amongst flames in pursuit of a flaming pearl, its sinuous body carefully picked out with scales and its muscular legs terminating in powerful sharp claws, all within double-line borders in underglaze-blue repeated at the rim, the exterior similarly decorated with a pair of five-clawed dragons striding amongst flames in pursuit of flaming pearls, the base inscribed in underglaze-blue with a six-character reign mark within a double circle - 21.5 cm, 8 1/2  in.

Provenance: Collection of the Marchese Blasco Lanza d'Ajeta, until 1964. 
Christie's London, 26th October 1964, lot 111 (105 gns). 
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1964 (105 gns).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1964 (£165).

Note: Kangxi (1662-1722) dishes such as the present piece follow a Ming prototype that was popular during the Hongzhi (1488-1505) and Zhengde (1505-21) periods, and continued to be made in the later Qing dynasty, reflecting the favour this design enjoyed at the Ming and Qing courts. ‘Green dragon’ dishes of the Ming and Qing periods vary in detail. Some are painted with dragons in green alone over the glaze, and some have details of dragons in overglaze black. The present piece – different again – was painted beneath the glaze with blue outlines for the clouds, pearls and parts of the dragons before the first firing, the outlines then being filled in with green enamel over the glaze for a second firing to finish. In terms of technique this is the same as the doucai (‘dovetailed colours’) style of the Chenghua period (1465-1487) except for a simpler palette, and requires much more attention to details of the painting. The current piece also has a whiter body and glaze than other Kangxi ‘green dragon’ dishes, probably because whiter clay was selected in order to highlight the beautiful contrast of the blue and green colours. The reign mark on the underside of this piece is written in perfectly aligned position relative to the dragon inside the dish, demonstrating the caution taken in its manufacture in the Kangxi imperial kilns.

Dishes with green dragon design from the Kangxi period are found in important museums and private collections. See an example in the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, illustrated in Barbara Harrison, Keramik uit Azie, Leeuwarden, 1985, pl. 126; another included in the exhibition The Wonders of the Potter's Palette, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 26; one of slightly larger dimensions, from the H. M. Knight Collection, sold in these rooms, 12th May 1970, lot 94, and again at Christie's London, 8th June 1987, lot 65; and a fourth example published in Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 93. See also a closely related dish sold in these rooms, 24th November 1987, lot 226.

For a related dish in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, with dragon outlines and details in black rather than blue, and smaller in size, see Porcelain of the National Palace Museum: Enamelled Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1969, vol. I, pls 9, 9a-c. For an associated Kangxi dish with two additional dragons and flames painted in green on the inside wall, see Qing Dynasty Imperial Porcelain in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, part I, cat. no. 69.