QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

The quality of the carving and moulding on the present vase is especially crisp, which is only found on imperial porcelain of the highest quality during this period. Compare a celadon-glazed basin (46.5 cm. high) carved and moulded in a similar style with a pair of dragons in pursuit of a flaming pearl dated to the Yongzheng period in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 149, no. 135. Compare also with a Qianlong-marked blue and white vase in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, painted with nine dragons similarly with dots on their bodies, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue-and-White Ware of the Ch’ing Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1968, vol. II, no. 10.