.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Both the shape of the present bowl and the type of dragon carved around the sides are highly unusual for a jade bowl of this period, and no other similar example appears to have been published.
The slightly rounded, widely flared body and the small flared foot of the bowl are related to a Xixia dynasty (1038-1127) gold bowl from Linhe city, Bayannaoer League, Mongolia, and illustrated by James C.Y. Watt, The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p. 287, fig. 629.
The particular type of dragon, with its long rippling snout, long sweeping horns, fierce expression, wildly undulating body and curved scimitar-like claws, was used as decoration on various mediums from the Tang through the Yuan dynasty. They can be found on Tang dynasty bronze mirrors such as the octalobed mirror illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 256-7, no. 90. A rare Tang dynasty jade bi (9.6 cm. diam.) in the Shanghai Museum is carved on one side with a similar type of dragon, and is illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan - jin yin yu shi juan, Hong Kong, 1994, p. 60, no. 185, where the dragon can be seen to entirely fill the space, as does the dragon on the present bowl. A rubbing of part of a stone pillar from the Yongzhao Mausoleum, c. 1063, illustrated in Bei Song Huangling, Zhengzhou, 1997, p. 158, fig. 137, depicts a stylistically similar writhing, three-clawed dragon. A pierced jade circular plaque dated Liao/Song dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is finely carved in the center with a very similar dragon reserved against a ground of scrolling tendrils. Dragons of this type were also part of textile design, as evidenced by a Northern Song kesi of early twelfth century date in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, where the dragon, albeit five-clawed, is shown leaping amidst flowers. See Watt, The World of Khubilai Khan, ibid., p. 245, fig. 258. (Fig. 2)
During the Yuan dynasty this type of dragon is seen on blue and white vessels, such as the blue and white jar with cover in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Underglaze Blue & Red, 1987, p. 27, no. 10, where the long, undulating body is accentuated by being shown in a band encircling the body. While on small openwork jade plaques of Yuan date the body of the dragon is made to conform to the confines of the shape of the plaque. This can be seen in an example illustrated by Yang Xin, Li Yihua and Xu Naixiang in The Art of the Dragon, Boston, 1988, p. 89, no. 66, and also on an earlier Song jade ornament, p. 54, no. 54.
The slightly rounded, widely flared body and the small flared foot of the bowl are related to a Xixia dynasty (1038-1127) gold bowl from Linhe city, Bayannaoer League, Mongolia, and illustrated by James C.Y. Watt, The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p. 287, fig. 629.
The particular type of dragon, with its long rippling snout, long sweeping horns, fierce expression, wildly undulating body and curved scimitar-like claws, was used as decoration on various mediums from the Tang through the Yuan dynasty. They can be found on Tang dynasty bronze mirrors such as the octalobed mirror illustrated in Ancient Bronze Mirrors from the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 256-7, no. 90. A rare Tang dynasty jade bi (9.6 cm. diam.) in the Shanghai Museum is carved on one side with a similar type of dragon, and is illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan - jin yin yu shi juan, Hong Kong, 1994, p. 60, no. 185, where the dragon can be seen to entirely fill the space, as does the dragon on the present bowl. A rubbing of part of a stone pillar from the Yongzhao Mausoleum, c. 1063, illustrated in Bei Song Huangling, Zhengzhou, 1997, p. 158, fig. 137, depicts a stylistically similar writhing, three-clawed dragon. A pierced jade circular plaque dated Liao/Song dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is finely carved in the center with a very similar dragon reserved against a ground of scrolling tendrils. Dragons of this type were also part of textile design, as evidenced by a Northern Song kesi of early twelfth century date in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, where the dragon, albeit five-clawed, is shown leaping amidst flowers. See Watt, The World of Khubilai Khan, ibid., p. 245, fig. 258. (Fig. 2)
During the Yuan dynasty this type of dragon is seen on blue and white vessels, such as the blue and white jar with cover in the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Underglaze Blue & Red, 1987, p. 27, no. 10, where the long, undulating body is accentuated by being shown in a band encircling the body. While on small openwork jade plaques of Yuan date the body of the dragon is made to conform to the confines of the shape of the plaque. This can be seen in an example illustrated by Yang Xin, Li Yihua and Xu Naixiang in The Art of the Dragon, Boston, 1988, p. 89, no. 66, and also on an earlier Song jade ornament, p. 54, no. 54.