YUAN/EARLY MING DYNASTY, 14TH-15TH CENTURY

It is very rare to find Longquan celadon wares carved with dragon designs. A Longquan celadon spouted bowl carved on the exterior with a very similarly rendered dragon is illustrated in Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Dragon-Motif Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1983, no. 11, together with a Longquan bowl, no. 12, of the same size as the present lot and carved on the interior with two similar dragons. Both of these bowls were dated to the Yuan dynasty. A Longquan celadon dish dated to the 14th-15th century and carved with a similar dragon, but bearing five claws rather than four claws, as on the present example, is in the Percival David Foundation and is illustrated by S. Pierson, Designs as Signs: Decoration and Chinese Ceramics, London, 2001, p. 67, no. 62.