A RARE DOUCAI 'DRAGON' BOWL AND COVER MARK AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG |

of conical form, the steep flaring sides supported on a straight foot, brightly painted in vivid enamels with a green and a yellow five-clawed dragon, both rising up from turbulent green waves amongst clusters of clouds and flaming pearls, the domed cover with an everted rim divided into six lobes, similarly decorated with two leaping dragons amongst scrolling clouds and flaming pearls, bordered by finely painted crashing blue waves at the rim, the base of the vessel inscribed in underglaze blue with a three-column mark within a double circle

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 30th April 1991, lot 103.

Both the bowl and the cover is in very good condition, with only characteristic crackling and occasional flakes to the green enamel. The unglazed footrim of the bowl has a burst bubble with a short associated firing line.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This bowl is remarkable for its powerful motif of ferocious five-clawed dragons writhing their sinuous bodies above tumultuous waves. Bowls of this form, with steeply flaring sides to accommodate a similarly-shaped cover were an innovation of the Yongzheng reign and have been attributed to the early years of his reign. Bowls of this type are discussed by Peter Y.K. Lam in ‘Lang Tingji (1663-1715) and the Porcelain of the Late Kangxi Period’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 68, 2002-2003, p. 44, where he suggests that wares inscribed with a reign mark that features the character qing (great) with the yue (moon) radical written with a vertical line, instead of a horizontal line, as on this piece, were made not long after the death of the Kangxi Emperor (1662-1722). Bowls of this type are held in important Museums and private collections worldwide; a closely related pair of bowls in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection. Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong, Hong Kong, 1989, pl. 30; another two in the Nanjing Museum were included in the Chinese University of Hong Kong exhibition Qing Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 52; a single bowl is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Avery Brundage Collection, San Francisco, 1967, pl. LXXIII (C); and another from the Aykroyd collection, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. XCIV, fig. 3, was sold in our London rooms, 17th May 1966, lot 230.