YUAN DYNASTY (1279-1368)

Details

A RARE CARVED AND MOULDED ‘DRAGON’ CHARGER
YUAN DYNASTY (1279-1368)
The charger is well potted with shallow rounded sides rising from a short tapered foot to an everted rim. The centre of the interior is sprig-moulded with a ferocious four-clawed dragon chasing a flaming pearl, surrounded by a register of foliate scroll at the well. The exterior is carved and moulded with a band of upright petals. It is covered overall with a translucent glaze of sea-green tone with the exception of the foot.

13 ¾ in. (35.7 cm.)

Provenance

Sold at Christie’s New York, 20 March 2001, lot 209

Brought to you by

Sibley Ngai

sngai@christies.com +852 2978 9955

Lot Essay

Though similar chargers are known in museums and private collections worldwide, the present charger distinguishes itself by the recision in the moulding of the dragon, imbuing it with a powerful sense of movement. Compare to a charger with the same motif in the British Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World’s Great Collection, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, no. 132; another with the dragon facing the opposite direction in the Topkapi Saray Museum, illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. I, p. 256, no. 62, where four further variants are also illustrated, including one surrounded by three clouds, one by two clouds, one by a single cloud, and one without a flaming pearl, see ibid., nos. 58, 59, 60, 62, respectively.

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