Lot 82. A rare large sancai-glazed dish, Kangxi mark and period (1662-1722); 32.2 cm, 12 5/8  in. Estimate 30,000 — 50,000 GBP. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's 2018.

freely splashed all over with emerald-green, marigold-yellow, and bright aubergine enamels, the centre delicately incised with a ferocious dragon writhing amidst cloud scrolls and flames to reach for a 'flaming pearl', the cavetto incised with various blossoming flowers and leafy foliage, the exterior similarly decorated with five further incised dragons chasing the flaming pearls, inscribed in underglaze blue with a six-character mark within a double-circle.

Note: A closely related dish in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated in Rose Kerr, Chinese Ceramics. Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, pl. 83; another, from the collection of Mr and Mrs Ira M. Koger, and now in the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota, is published in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics. The Koger Collection. New York, 1985, pl. 102; and a bowl of this type, but without the incised dragon decoration, from the Qing Court Collection and still in Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 226.