A fine 'green dragon' jar and cover. Qianlong seal mark and of the period

A fine 'green dragon' jar and cover. Qianlong seal mark and of the period. Photo Bonhams

Typically painted in delicate blue and enamelled in rich translucent pale apple-green around the body with two large five-clawed dragons striding in mutual pursuit of flaming pearls, between bands of Buddhist emblems around the shoulder and stiff lappets above the foot, the squared domed cover with a central coiled dragon. 21cm (8¼in) high (2). Estimate: £60,000 - 100,000, HKD 760,000 - 1,300,000, $ 98,000 - 160,000

Provenance: acquired at Eastwood and Holt, 2-4 October 1928, lot 116 for £3 10s, and thence by descent.

The present vase is a continuation of the type first made during the Kangxi period; see a green enamelled 'dragon' vase and cover, Kangxi mark and period, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl.190. Compare a similar green-enamelled 'dragon' jar and cover, Qianlong seal mark and of the period, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p.271; for another example from the Tianminlou Foundation, see L.A. Cort and J.Stuart, Joined Colors: Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain, Washington D.C. and Hong Kong, 1993, pl.45. A similar jar and cover from the Greenwald Collection was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 2831.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Art, 12 May 2011. New Bond Street www.bonhams.com