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

The present bowl is decorated on the exterior with two five-clawed dragon chasing flaming pearls amidst scrolling clouds, all reserved on a pale yellow ground. It is rare to find Kangxi mark-and-period examples decorated with dragons in pairs. A pair of similarly decorated bowls is illustrated by Bluett, The Riesco Collection of Old Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, fig. 58. An almost identical pair was sold at Christie’s New York, 1 June 1990, lot 285; and another pair was sold at Sotheby’s London, 11 June 1996, lot 96.

Compare also with a slightly larger Kangxi-marked yellow-ground doucai bowl decorated with dragon and phoenix pursuing flaming pearls, see Wang Qingzheng, Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum, Hong Kong, 1998, pp. 248-249, no. 160.