A fine yellow-ground underglaze-blue 'dragon' dish, Mark and period of Kangxi

Collection of Sir Thomas Beaumont Hohler (1871-1946), and thence by descent.

Compare a closely related dish from the collection of Edward T. Chow (1910 - 1980), exhibited in Ch’ing Polychrome Porcelain, Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1977, cat. no. 41, and sold twice in our Hong Kong rooms, 14th November 1989, lot 283, and again, 11th April 2008, lot 3016.

The dramatic imperial design of the present lot traces its origins to related examples from the Ming dynasty. Compare a Jiajing example from the Pilkington Collection, exhibited in Polychrome Porcelain of the Ming and Manchu Dynasties, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1950, cat. no. 100, and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 5th April 2017, lot 5; and a similar Wanli period dish featuring writhing dragons around a flaming pearl preserved in the British Museum, London, acc. no. 1945,1016.6.