Chinese imperial porcelain blue ground iron-red dragon saucer dish

Chinese imperial porcelain blue ground iron-red dragon saucer dish with gently lipped rim, painted in the centre with a Ming-style five-clawed dragon on an underglaze blue crested-wave medallion encircled by two pairs of double lines, the underside with nine small dragons depicted in a variety of positions on a crested-wave ground beneath a band of flowerheads.

7 inches, 17.7 cm diameter.

The base with a six-character sealmark of Daoguang in underglaze blue and of the period, 1821-1850.

青花礬紅彩海水龍紋盤　清道光　大清道光年制款　唐紹儀舊藏

• Formerly in the collection of Tang Shaoyi (1862-1938), the first prime minister of the Republic of China, and thence by descent.
   
• The design of this saucer dish is considered to be the better pattern of the two styles of iron-red dragons on a crested-wave ground. A pair of Daoguang examples of this pattern were included by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in their auction of The Edward T. Chow Collection, Part One, Ming and Qing Porcelain, 25th November 1980, lot 125, pp. 124/5. The same pair latterly from The Yiqingge Collection were sold by Christie’s Hong Kong in their auction of Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 1st June 2011, lot 3473, p. 71.
   
• A Daoguang example of the second pattern of iron-red dragons on a crested-wave ground was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Nineteen Century Mark and Period Porcelain, 1991, no. 29, p. 34; another is illustrated by Peter Lam in Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing from the Kwan Collection, Art Gallery . The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983, no. 23, p. 55.
   
• A Qianlong example of this design was included by Marchant in their catalogue of Recent Acquisitions, 2011, no. 39, pp. 80/1, and a pair were included by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in their auction of The Edward T. Chow Collection, Part One, Ming and Qing Porcelain, 25th November 1980, lot 124, pp. 124/5.
   
• It would appear that Daoguang examples of this design are rare. The potting with the lipped rim is particularly fine and it is interesting to note the thick glaze with a blue tone and the fine biscuit of the body visible at the foot rim.

Price

This object is eligible for a Certificate of BADA Provenance

Condition report

Stock number