An extremely rare café-au-lait ground and iron-red decorated 'dragon' dish, Mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 米黃地礬紅彩雲龍紋盤 《大清雍正年製》款

Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2005, lot 1470 (one of a pair).

香港佳士得2005年5月30日，編號1470（一對之其一）

With rampant five-clawed dragons soaring through the swirling clouds, these dishes are a prime example of the rare combination of iron-red enamels and a café-au-lait ground.

The design follows earlier Kangxi period dishes, such as one with an iron-red dragon on white ground, illustrated in Yuci yizhen / Treasures of Imperial Porcelain, Hangzhou, 2011, pp. 26-27; and is also related to pieces in green enamel, see an example in the Princessehof Museum, Leeuwarden, illustrated in Barbara Harrison, Keramik uit Azie, Leeuwarden, 1985, pl. 126; and another included in the exhibition The Wonders of the Potter's Palette, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 26. The only known Kangxi prototypes with iron-red on café-au-lait were sold as a set of three in our New York rooms, 18-19th April 1989, lot 341.

Only a small number of Yongzheng dishes of this type are known. Compare a closely related example, formerly in the E.T. Hall Collection, included in the exhibition Iron in the Fire: The Chinese Potters' Exploration of Iron Oxide Glazes, Ashmolean Museum, London, 1988, cat. no. 81, and sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th May 2021, lot 2941; another sold in our New York rooms, 19th September 2023, lot 510. The only other pair of this type to be sold at auction at Christie's Hong Kong, 1st October 1991, lot 846.