Page 84 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art 09/13/17

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A RARE AND LARGE BLUE AND WHITE
‘DRAGON’ DISH
JIAJING MARK AND PERIOD

with gently rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot,
boldly painted to the interior in inky tones of underglaze
blue with two dragons in pursuit of a ‘ aming pearl’ above
crested waves and amidst cloud and ame scrolls, all
enclosed within ring borders, the underside with a frieze of
nine similar ascending and descending dragons above waves,
the six-character mark inscribed in a horizontal line within a
rectangular cartouche beneath the rim, Japanese wood box (3)
Diameter 17¼ in., 43.8 cm
This dish is notable for its large size and unusual design of
two confronted dragons; see a slightly larger example from
the collection of Dr Ip Yee, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th
November 1984, lot 185; and another, in the Topkapi Saray
Museum, Istanbul, was included in Regina Krahl, Chinese
Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, ed. John
Ayers, London, 1986, vol. 2, cat. no. 924; and a much larger
version sold at Christie’s London, 16th November 1999, lot 187.
See also a similar dish in the Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo,
acc. no. TG-959.
Compare also dishes of similar size but painted with the
more typical front-facing dragon, such as one in the Idemitsu
Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu
Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 705; another included An Exhibition
of Blue-Decorated Porcelain of the Ming Dynasty and illustrated
in Philadelphia Museum Bulletin, vol. XLIV no. 223, Autumn
1984, pl. 109; and a third sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st-3rd
May 1994, lot 639.
$ 60,000-80,000

82 SOTHEBY’S