KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN DOUBLE-CIRCLES AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

Details

A FINE AND RARE BLUE-GROUND POLYCHROME-DECORATED 'DRAGON' BOWL
KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN DOUBLE-CIRCLES AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)
The exterior decorated with two dragons, one in green enamel, the other iron-red, racing through green, yellow and iron-red flames in pursuit of 'flaming pearls' positioned above cruciform clouds, resting on a band of overlapping petals, all reserved on a ground of blue wash, with a medallion of a similar leaping dragon in green on the interior, the well and base white
5 1/2 in (14 cm.) diam., box

Provenance

One of a pair from the Collection of the British Rail Pension Fund, sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16 May 1989, lot 79 and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 May 1994, lot 734

Exhibited

Fairfax House, Yorkshire, 1985-1988 on loan

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Lot Essay

The bowl belongs to an intriguing group of Kangxi coloured-ground wares where the fifth claw of the dragon has been obscured by an overglaze enamel, in the present case with black enamel. A dish with the same detail is illustrated by John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, p. 37.

A similar Kangxi-marked bowl was sold at Christie's New York, 1 June 1990, lot 287; and another at Christie's London, 1 December 1997, lot 118. Compare a very similar bowl but with a five-clawed dragon, illustrated in Chinese Porcelain: the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Part II, Hong Kong, 1987, pl. 91.

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