Lot 612. A very rare Ming underglaze-blue and enamel-decorated bowl, Zhengde four-character mark within a double circle and of the period (1506-1521); 6 1/4 in. (15.9 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 250,000 - HKD 350,000. Price realised HKD 454,100. © Christie's Image Ltd 2002

Well potted with rounded sides, the exterior is finely painted in underglaze-blue with two sinuous five-clawed dragons in mutual pursuit against a brightly enamelled yellow ground, with green-enamelled wave bands punctuated with yellow flowers around the rim and the slightly tapered foot (minor glaze chips), box. 

Literature: Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Volume 1, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 808.

Note: Cf. another very similar bowl previously from the M. Meyer Collection (inventory no. 456), sold in our London Rooms, 5 April 1976, lot 40, and illustrated by A. du Boulay, Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, London, 1984, p. 164, fig. 1.