A pair of yellow-ground iron-red 'dragon' bowls. Qianlong underglaze-blue six-character sealmarks and of the period (1736-95)

A pair of yellow-ground iron-red 'dragon' bowls. Qianlong underglaze-blue six-character sealmarks and of the period (1736-95)

Each bowl finely painted around the exterior with four long-bodied five-clawed dragons amidst ruyi-clouds and above a band of crashing waves around the short foot, all reserved on a rich yellow ground. 4¾ in. (12 cm.) diam. (2). Est. £10,000 - £15,000 - Price realised £43,250

Notes: Compare an identical single bowl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong. Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Beijing, 1989, fig. 15, p. 334. Compare also the Qianlong example from the Powell-Cotton Collection illustrated by Gordon Lang, The Powell-Cotton Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Kent, 1988, pl. 7, no. 96, p. 46, together with another in the same collection, but of the Yongzheng period, ibid., pl. 7, no. 86, p. 46.

For yet another identical bowl in the Nanjing Museum see Qing Imperial Porcelain, Of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong Reigns, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 84

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art including Export Art. 12 May 2009. London, King Street www.christies.com