QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARKS AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

This pair of dishes decorated with dragons is among a group of dishes of this design that are recorded as being made in the 2nd year of the Qianlong reign (1737). Other variations of the decoration include examples having a frieze of detached flower sprays on the exterior or the interior left plain. A single dish with floral designs instead of the dragons on the reverse from the Qing Court Collection is illustrated in Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains and Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Shanghai, 2009, no. 109; and a pair of dishes similarly decorated with florettes on the exterior from the T.Y. Chao Collection, was exhibited at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Ch'ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong Collection, 1973, Catalogue, no. 41.

Two pairs of dishes of identical design were sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 October 2001, lot 828 and 28 November 2012, lot 2141.