KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARKS IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN DOUBLE CIRCLES AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

Each dish is finely incised with five-clawed dragons chasing flaming pearls and is enamelled in yellow, aubergine, black, lime and green, and glazed on biscuit with with auspicious fruits symbolising abundance of offspring, in an elegant palette of understated beauty, belongs to one of the most representative and sought-after types of porcelain from the imperial kilns of the Kangxi Emperor. They feature a highly unusual decoration that required remarkable skill, and it is extremely rare to find such dishes offered as a pair.

Due to the complicated and long manufacturing process, such dishes were produced in small numbers. Yet they are represented in world famous museums and private collections. A similar dish from the British Rail Pension Fund, exhibited on loan at the Dallas Museum of Art 1985-1988, is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1818. Another dish from the collection of Edward T. Chow, illustrated in The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, p. 124-125, cat. no. 43. Further examples include a pair sold at Hong Kong Sotheby’s, 11 April 2008, lot 2918.