PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION 
A BLUE-GROUND DOUCAI 'DRAGON' BOWL

Details
A BLUE-GROUND DOUCAI 'DRAGON' BOWL
ENCIRCLED KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

The rounded sides rising to a slightly flaring rim, the exterior painted and enamelled with a red and a green five-clawed dragon chasing a flaming pearl amidst fire-scrolls and clouds above three tiers of overlapping petals, the central medallion with another dragon and flaming pearl
5 1/2 in. (14 cm.) diam., box

Lot Essay

Previously sold in these Rooms, 26 September 1989, lot 599.

A pair of similar bowls from the British Rail Pension Fund were sold in Hong Kong, 17 May 1989, lot 79. Another example is illustrated in the S. C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Catalogue, pl. 91, where the authors suggest that it was made early in the period and fired twice following the Wanli wucai technique, achieving doucai over underglaze-blue.

The bowl belongs to an intriguing group of Kangxi coloured-ground wares where the fifth claw of the dragon has been obscured by an overglaze enamel, in the present case a convenient flame is used. A dish with the same detail is in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch'ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, pl. 29. Baur discusses the enigma in the Baur Collection, Catalogue, vol. IV.

(US$16,000-24,000)

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