KANGXI UNDERGLAZE-BLUE SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE-CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

Details

A BLUE-GROUND POLYCHROME-DECORATED 'DRAGON' BOWL
KANGXI UNDERGLAZE-BLUE SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN A DOUBLE-CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)
With gently rounded sides rising steeply to a slightly everted rim, the exterior decorated with two dragons, one in green enamel, the other iron-red, each striding through green, yellow and iron-red flames in pursuit of 'flaming pearls' above a band of overlapping lotus petals, the interior enamelled to the centre with a medallion decorated with a further dragon chasing a flaming pearl, all reserved on a cobalt blue ground and within blue double-line borders
5½ in. (14 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Property from an Important Asian Collection.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 23 May 1978, lot 176.

Special notice

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

Brought to you by

Caroline Allen

Check the condition report or get in touch for additional information about this

callen@christies.com +44 (0)20 7389 2579

If you wish to view the condition report of this lot, please sign in to your account.

View condition report

Lot Essay

This 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 and red enamel. A very similar bowl was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1 June 2011, lot 2512. 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.

More from Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art

View All