A blue and white 'dragon' dish, Zhengde mark and period (1506-1521)

29 août 2017

A blue and white 'dragon' dish, Zhengde mark and period (1506-1521)

Lot 58. A blue and white 'dragon' dish, Zhengde mark and period (1506-1521). Diameter 7 3/4 in., 19.7cm. Estimate $30,000–50,000. Lot Sold 32,500 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

well potted with rounded sides rising to an everted rim, painted with a central medallion enclosing a sinuous five-clawed dragon, surrounded by two striding dragons at the cavetto, the exterior with two further dragons above a ruyi band encircling the foot, all against a dense lotus scroll and within double-line borders, the base with a four-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle.

Provenance: Christie's London, 13th November 2001, lot 143.

Note: The dragon and lotus design was one of the favorite designs of the Zhengde emperor and adorned a variety of vessels, including bowls, stemcups, jars of zhadou shape and dishes. Although this design was popular throughout the Ming period, the dense and even composition rendered in soft cobalt blue seen on the present dish is peculiar to the Zhengde reign.

Closely related examples, all bearing the four-character reign mark that is characteristic of this group of dishes, are found in museums and collections around the world; see one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 63; one in the Capital Museum, Beijing, published in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 12, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 138; another in the Shanghai Museum, included in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 116; and a fourth example in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 4, pt. I, London, 2010, pl. 1679. For the Xuande prototype see one excavated at the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns, published in Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao ciqi, Shanghai, 2007, pl. 3-119.

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 13 Sep 2017, 10:00 AM