THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 
A FINE MING BLUE AND WHITE 'DRAGON' SAUCER-DISH

ENCIRCLED ZHENGDE FOUR-CHARACTER MARK AND OF THE PERIOD

Details
A FINE MING BLUE AND WHITE 'DRAGON' SAUCER-DISH
encircled zhengde four-character mark and of the period
Painted in a bright cobalt blue with two lively sinuous dragons in mutual pursuit around the exterior and within the well amidst leafy lotus scrolls within double lines, the centre with a circular medallion enclosing a similar five-clawed dragon among scrolling lotus
9 1/8in. (23.3cm.) diam.

Lot Essay

Compare the dish of this design, of identical size to the present lot, originally in the Riesco Collection, illustrated by Sir Harry Garner, op.cit., no.46.A, and for a discussion on the use during the Zhengde period of both four and six-character marks on wares which are clearly Imperial quality, see ibid., pp.30-31. Other dishes of this design, of slightly varying size, are illustrated by R. L. Hobson, Handbook of Pottery and Porcelain of the Far East, p.59, fig.85; by R.-Y. Lefebvre d'Argencé, Chinese Ceramics in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1967, pl.LIII, fig.A;
by D. Lion-Goldschmidt, Ming Porcelain, pl.104, for the Percival David Foundation example, which was formerly in the George Eumorfopoulos Collection, Catalogue, vol.4, pl.7, no.D18; ; by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, 1975, pl.161 for the Metropolitan Museum example; by J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Koger Collection, pl.54; by Kao Yu-chen, Blue and White Porcelain of the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, 1988, p.52 for the National Palace Museum, Taibei, example. Others have been exhibited in Chinese Art, Venice, 1954, Catalogue, pl.663; in Chinese Porcelain, The S. C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, Catalogue, no.34; in the Kau Chi Society Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1981-2, Catalogue, no.76; and another from the Leventritt Collection was included in Ming Blue and White, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1949, Catalogue, no.101. A slightly smaller dish than the present lot was sold in our New York Rooms, 2 December 1993, lot 268.

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