Page 35 - Sotheby's Part I Collection of Sir Joeseph Hotung Collection CHINESE ART , Oct. 9, 2022

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׼ ڡ ’ A BLUE AND WHITE 'DRAGON' DISH,
͍ ڀ ͍ MARK AND PERIOD OF ZHENGDE
ᅃ ߈ ᅃ well potted with shallow rounded sides resting on a slightly tapered foot, brilliantly painted in the centre with a dragon writhing among
ڀ ϋ a flowering lotus scroll, with scaly body and powerful claws, white horns and a bushy mane, the cavetto and exterior similarly decorated

Ꮂ Ⴁ with two dragons pacing among lotus, one striding, the other floating in midair with outstretched limbs and its neck twisted in a
ferocious posture, all between double-line borders and above a frieze of ruyi encircling the foot, the slightly domed base inscribed with
७ “ a four-character reign mark within a double ring in underglaze blue, wood stand
ᆵ ಛ 19.6 cm
PROVENANCE Ը๕j
Collection of C. Jasperse, Grand Rapids, Michigan. C. Jasperse ϗᔛdɽܢݴ۬d੗๊࣬ψ
Sotheby's New York, 5th May 1979, lot 100. ॲߒᘽబˢ1979ϋ5˜5˚dᇜ໮100
Eskenazi Ltd, London, 1979. ࡾ౶̔ॶᄁdࡐ౱d1979ϋ
.
HK$ 800,000-1,200,000
US$ 102,000-153,000

This design of five-clawed dragons among dense lotus scrolls is auction, most recently in these rooms, 9th October 2012, lot 19, from
perhaps the most characteristic pattern of the Zhengde period (1506- the Meitintang collection.
21) and appears on dishes, bowls and jars of zhadou shape. Although
the dragon-and-lotus design was popular throughout the Ming On these Zhengde dishes, the placement of the surrounding
period, this dense and even distribution of the decorative elements, dragons can vary; two similar, slightly larger dishes are in the British
and the soft tone of cobalt blue are peculiar to the Zhengde reign. Museum, London, one with the dragons similarly arranged as on
the present dish, the other with one dragon above and one below
The design may be based on a Xuande prototype, although no exact the central creature, both illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming
counterpart is known. For the most closely related designs compare Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pls 8:15 and 8:16.
a dish with a similar design in the centre but two dragons facing Another dish similar to the present piece in the Shanghai Museum
forward among peony scrolls around the well, or one with very similar is published in Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi /
dragons among lotus scrolls, but the central dragon plunging, both Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections: A Series of Monographs.
illustrated in Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu / Catalogue Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl.
of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains 3-78; and one from the Eumorfopoulos collection, illustrated in R.L.
of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. Hobson, The George Eumorfopoulos Collection of Chinese, Corean
nos. 188 and 189; an example of the latter design was recently sold and Persian Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1925-8, vol. IV, pl. VII, no.
in these rooms 4th April 2012, lot 3156. Compare also a blue and D 18, was sold in our London rooms, 29th May 1940, lot 211.
white dragon dish of Chenghua mark and period (1465-87) from
the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum, London, A zhadou, a dish and three different bowls with this design are in the
in Oriental Ceramics: The World’s Great Collections, Tokyo, New Palace Museum, Beijing; see The Complete Collection of Treasures
York, and San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 6, col. pl. 32, which represents of the Palace Museum. Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed
a much more loosely composed prototype of this design. A further Red, vol. 2, Shanghai, 2000, pls 57, 63 and 69-71, one of the bowls
example, formerly in the collection of Mrs Alfred Clark, is included with the Zhengde reign mark replaced by a mark in Phags-pa script.
in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, A matching zhadou also in the Meiyintang collection (Krahl, op.cit.,
London, 1994-2010, vol. 4, no. 1679, and was sold multiple times at vol. 2, no. 686), was sold in these rooms, 7th April 2011, lot 60.

Mark

68 I FOR COMPLETE CATALOGUING ༉းྡ፽ʫ࢙ሗᓭᚎ SOTHEBYS.COM/HK1293 THE PERSONAL COLLECTION OF THE LATE SIR JOSEPH HOTUNG I 69