Five-clawed dragons striding through clouds in purusit of a flaming pearl are often found as decoration on Ming and Qing imperial porcelains. In Korea they are likewise associated exclusively with the imperial court. They are royal insignia emblematic of power and dignity. Jars of this unusually large size and fine quality are extremely rare and were probably used for formal court ceremonies. This jar has its closest counterpart in an example, perhaps a pair to this one, in the Ataka Collection in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (see Richo koki sometsuke [Blue and White of the Latter Yi Dynasty, Korea] Osaka: Museum of Oriental Ceramics, 1989, fig. 1). For another very similar example in the National Museum, Seoul see Hongnam Kim, ed., Korean Arts of the Eighteenth Century: Splendor and Simplicity (New York: Weatherhill and The Asia Society, 1993), pl. 25. See also Choson koseki zufu (Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1973), vol. 15, no. 6394; the R.H.I. de la Mare Dragon Jar in Catalogue of Fine Oriental Ceramics and Works of Art, Sotheby's London (July 10, 1979), lot 165.