Lot 65. A green-enameled 'dragon' bowl, Mark and period of Zhengde (1506-1521). Diameter 7¾ in., 19.7 cm. Estimate: 6,000 - 8,000 USD. Lot sold: 69,300 USD. © Sothebys.

the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle. 

Literature: Rose Kerr et al., Chinese Antiquities from the Wou Kiuan Collection. Wou Lien-Pai Museum, Hong Kong, 2011, pl.116.

Note: The green dragon design, which became very popular during the Hongzhi (1488-1505) and Zhengde (1506-21) reigns, originated in the Chenghua period (1465-87), when green dragon bowls were made both with the dragons enameled on top of the glaze over underglaze-blue outlines, and enameled on the biscuit as on the present piece. Examples of both techniques are included in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, as published in Chenghua ciqi tezhan/Special Exhibition of Ch'eng-hua Porcelain Ware, 1465-1487, Taipei, 2003, pls 107-8 and 110-11.