The present basin with five lobes is very rare, and the closest comparison to it, in terms of its painted decoration is a larger hexafoil basin (37.5 cm. wide) with a very similar composition from the Chang Foundation, illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Taiwan, 1990, pl. 104. There are also other cinquefoil basins painted with single dragons, such as the example in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, illustrated in The 15th Anniversary Catalogue, Tokyo, 1981, p. 203, no. 852; and another sold in our New York Rooms, The Jingguantang Collection Part III, 18 September 1997, lot 152. The lobing on these examples, however, is not as well defined as on the present lot.