Bonhams 1793 : A fine and rare wucai yellow-ground 'dragon and phoenix' bowl Kangxi six-character mark and of the period

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12 May 2011 10:00 BST London, New Bond Street
Fine Chinese Art
Back to auction 18827

A fine and rare wucai yellow-ground 'dragon and phoenix' bowl

Kangxi six-character mark and of the period
The exterior delicately and densely enamelled in translucent iron-red, green, aubergine, coral-red and painted in blue with two five-clawed dragons striding along the side and grasping at a flaming pearl ahead of them, divided by two flying phoenix with green plumage and coral-red heads, the delicate primrose-yellow ground further enriched with multi-coloured coils of cloud vapour, the interior plain except for a group of small green enamel dots. 15.3cm (6in) diam.

Sold for £96,000 inc. premium

Footnotes

Provenance: an Italian private collection

The present bowl is extremely rare in its combination of design, yellow-wash ground and size and only one other example appears to have been published; see Wang Qingzheng, Chief Editor, Kangxi Porcelain Ware from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Shanghai, 1998, pl.160. However for a related smaller blue-wash-ground example, decorated with dragons only, see Chinese Porcelain: The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Part I, Hong Kong, 1987, pl.91; and another sold at Christie's New York, 22 March 2007, lot 347. See also a similarly decorated dish, Kangxi mark and period, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, pl.210.

Category: Asian Art / Chinese Works of Art

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