ZHENGDE SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1506-1521)

Green-dragon dishes of this design are based on Zhengtong-Tianshun period prototypes. Compare to two incised green enamel ‘dragon’ dishes from the Zhengtong-Tianshun period, discovered at the Jingdezhen Imperial kiln site, illustrated in Lustre Revealed: Jingdezhen Porcelain Wares in Mid Fifteenth Century China, Shanghai, 2019, nos. 161-162. Compare also a Chenghua marked bowl decorated with green dragons enamelled over biscuit silhouettes, illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Ch’eng-hua Porcelain Ware, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2003, cat. no. 110.

It is very rare to find Zhengde green dragon dishes in this small size, as extent examples exceed 17.5 cm. in diameter.Compare to a larger dish in the Qing court collection (19.9 cm.), illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Shanghai, 2009, no. 71; another Zhengde dish (18 cm.) in the British Museum Collection, illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 8:34; and a further example of similar size in the Shanghai Museum Collection (17.5 cm.), illustrated by Lu Minghua, Shanghai bowuguan cangpin yanjiu daxi, Mingdai guanyao ciqi, Shanghai, 2007, no. 1-44.