24 – M5289/90
Description
Pair of Chinese imperial porcelain wucai dragon and phoenix bowls, wan, deeply potted with gently flaring rims, each painted on the exterior with an iron-red and a green five-clawed dragon in pursuit of a flaming pearl separated by two swooping phoenix birds amongst leaves and flowerheads in two tones of green, beneath a band of bajixiang alternating with ruyi-heads, above two lines in underglaze blue on the foot. The interior painted in the well with an iron-red five yellow-clawed dragon in pursuit of a flaming pearl amongst flames within two underglaze blue double lines and one at the rim.
Each base with a six-character sealmark of Qianlong in underglaze blue and of the period, 1736-1795.
6 ⅛ inches, 15.5 cm diameter.
Provenance & Additional Information
- From an important private French collection.
- An identical large pair were included by Marchant in their exhibition of Qing Mark and Period Monochromes and Enamelled Wares, 1981, 66, which were again included by Marchant in their exhibition of The Rolf Heiniger Collection of Qing Imperial Wares, 2000, no. 13, pp. 32/3.
- Another example from a Japanese private collection was included by Marchant in their Recent Acquisitions catalogue, 2003, no. 18, p. 31.
- This group is discussed by R. P. Marchant in Some Interesting Pieces of Marked Ch’ing Porcelain, Bulletin of The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, no. 3, 1977-1978, nos. 7-13, where the author illustrates bowls of this design from four different reigns and notes on the Qianlong version the green dragon is slightly darker than other versions and that the sealmark lines up with dragon head on the interior.
- It is also interesting to note that on this larger type, the iron-red dragons’ talons are heightened in a speckled yellow glaze and the claw ends in aubergine.
- Another is illustrated by Ulrich Wiesner in Chinese Porcelain The Ohlmer Collection in The Roemer Museum, Hildesheim, Mainz, 1981, 123; a further example of a slightly smaller size with total iron-red and green dragons, where the phoenix birds have feathers on the neck was included by Marchant in their catalogue of Qing Porcelain: Recent Acquisitions, 2011, no. 35, pp. 72/3.
- The dragon, long, and phoenix, feng, form the rebus longfeng chengxiang, “the dragon and phoenix present happy omens”. They are a typical wedding motif, and together the two represent good fortune and blessings for the emperor and empress.
Condition
Overall in excellent condition, without any chips,crcaks,or restoration.
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