An extremely rare fahua 'dragon' garden seat, Ming dynasty, Jiajing period

European Private Collection.

Sotheby's New York, 13th-14th September 2016, lot 276. 

This porcelain stool is impressive for its dynamic and bold design of two five-clawed dragons above waves. While the brilliant and contrasting palette of yellow, aubergine, green and brown is characteristic of fahua wares, the yellow color was rarely used as a color ground. Two very similar stools are in collections of the Palace Museum, Beijing: one illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Furniture of the Ming and Qing Dynasties (I), Hong Kong, 2002, pl. 54; the other in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains. Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Shanghai, 2009, pl. 192, together with one decorated with dragons over a white ground, pl. 191. A further example in the Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, is published in The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics. Ming, Shanghai, 2000, vol. 13, pl. 162; and a pair, embellished with metal mounts, from the collection of Edward R. Bacon, was sold in these rooms, 2nd December 1967, lot 69.

Stools of this type were made for both indoor and outdoor use in gardens and courtyards. Known in a variety of media, they were modeled in the shape of drums, with prominent nail heads originally used to keep the skin of the drum stretched.