Lot 2267. A fine and rare blue and white 'Dragon' bowl, Qianlong period, Zhiyuan Tang hall mark (1736-1795); 5 5/8 in. (14.1 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 200,000 - HKD 300,000. Price realised HKD 525,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

The exterior finely painted with two dragons striding amidst clouds and above waves crashing against rocks at the four cardinal points, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: A private collection, Greenwich, Connecticut, sold at Christie's New York, 21 March 2002, lot 213. 

Note: The marks Zhiyuan Tang Zhi may be translated as 'Made for the Far Distant Hall'. This hall mark is recorded as having been used for a number of blue and white bowls of dragon and clouds design dating to the Qianlong period, see Geng Baocheng, Ming and Qing Porcelain on Inspection, Forbidden City Publishing House, 1993, p. 383.

A pair of bowls of this design was included in the exhibition, Ming and Qing Porcelain, Jeiwah's Gallery, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 18; and another bowl is illustrated by Patricia F. Ferguson, Cobalt Treasures, The Robert Murray Bell and Ann Walker Bell Collection of Chinese Blue and White Porcelain, 2003, p. 23, no. 14; where a similar pair of saucer dishes is also illustrated. 

Christie's. Imperial Sale; Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall, 29 May 2013