The present bowl belongs to a known but small group of early Qing dynasty green and black wares including vases and dishes. This form of decoration is unusual in that the design is reserved against black and covered with transparent green enamel to create a 'silhouette' effect. Designs of insects and birds against a rockwork ground or a dense floral scroll pattern are more common, and the present bowl appears to be a unique example painted with dragons. Compare with a Yongzheng-marked vase painted with a pair of Ming style dragons with bi-furcated tails striding amidst lotus scrolls, in the Baur collection, illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in The Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, p. 87, no. 207 (A569). A Qianlong-marked bottle vase with scrolling lotus was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 May 1995, lot 660. Compare also a Qianlong-marked large dish (48 cm. diam.) designed with birds and insects sold at Christie's London, 5 June 1995, lot 210 and sold again at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 10 April 2006, lot 1520; and a pair of smaller dishes (19.6 cm.) decorated with insects amidst flowers and rockwork, bearing Yongzheng marks, from the Barbara Hutton collection, sold at Christie's London, 6 November 2007, lot 180.