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Lot Essay
The design of five-clawed dragons amidst dense lotus scrolls is one of the most prevalent motifs seen on Zhengde porcelain. Its imperial provenance is further substantiated by the inclusion of a dish of this design on the sixth scroll of the imperial collection of the Yongzheng Emperor, the Guwan Tu, Scroll of Antiquities, dated to the sixth year of his reign (1728), from the Percival David Collection and now housed in the British Museum.
Zhengde-marked dishes of this design are found in museums and private collections worldwide, such as one (19.8 cm.) in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 68, no. 63; one (19.6 cm.) in the Shanghai Museum, published in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 154; one (20.2 cm.) in the Tianminlou Collection, illustrated in Blue & White Porcelain from the Collection of Tianminlou Foundation, Shanghai, 1996, no. 56; one (19.9 cm.) illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, no. 807; one (19.5 cm.) from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2012, lot 19. Three slightly larger ones are known: two in the British Museum, illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 8:15 (23.8 cm.), and no. 8:16 (24.8 cm.), and the third (24 cm.) from the R.F.A. Riesco Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2013, lot 3116 (Price realised: HK$3,880,000)(fig. 1).
Zhengde-marked dishes of this design are found in museums and private collections worldwide, such as one (19.8 cm.) in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 68, no. 63; one (19.6 cm.) in the Shanghai Museum, published in Wang Qingzheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, no. 154; one (20.2 cm.) in the Tianminlou Collection, illustrated in Blue & White Porcelain from the Collection of Tianminlou Foundation, Shanghai, 1996, no. 56; one (19.9 cm.) illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. 1, Tokyo, 1976, no. 807; one (19.5 cm.) from the Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2012, lot 19. Three slightly larger ones are known: two in the British Museum, illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 8:15 (23.8 cm.), and no. 8:16 (24.8 cm.), and the third (24 cm.) from the R.F.A. Riesco Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 November 2013, lot 3116 (Price realised: HK$3,880,000)(fig. 1).