JIAQING SIX-CHARACTER SEALMARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1796-1820)

This decorative design of using green enamelling over an incised design against a yellow enamel ground first appeared in the Ming dynasty Zhengde period (1506-1521) and continued in the succeeding Jiajing reign (1522-1566). Compare with a Jiajing-marked bowl of this same 'dragon and phoenix' theme, but with the additional scroll band below the mouth rim, included in the exhibition, Chinese Art, Venice, 1954, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 715. The technique was revived in the Qing dynasty Kangxi period as shown by the Kangxi-marked bowl in the British Rail Pension Fund sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16 May 1989, lot 76; and a pair illustrated in Chinese Porcelain - The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 88. It has been noted that dragon and phoenix in green enamel on a yellow ground were 'exclusively used by the emperor, empress and royal concubines' according to the Daqing Huidian, Comprehensive Gazetteer of the Qing Dynasty, and Guochao Gongshi, History of the Qing Imperial Palace, op. cit., Part II, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 133. An identical Jiaqing-marked bowl was sold at Christie's New York, 2 December 1986, lot 208.