A RARE CHINESE UNDERGLAZE RED 'DRAGON' BOWL

1ST HALF 16TH CENTURY

The gently flared body decorated with two scaly dragons chasing flaming pearls of wisdom against an incised wave ground, the centre with a slight recess and painted with two further dragons in pursuit of sacred jewels, with simple red bands to the rim and tapering foot, the slightly convex base with a six character Xuande mark and labels for R H R Palmer, The Oriental Ceramic Society 1950 Exhibition, and F O S & M M Dobell, 21cm.

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, 29th September 1944, purchased by R H R Palmer for £30, collection no.584; sold at Sotheby's London, 27th November 1962, lot 21, and again on 24th March 1964, lot 86, purchased by Bluett & Sons for £220 on behalf of F O S and M M Dobell, no.48, and thence by descent.

Exhibited: The Oriental Ceramic Society Ming Polychrome Exhibition, 1950, no.133.

Illustrated: S Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, 1953, pl.49A, and p.55, where this bowl is discussed. Also illustrated in The Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol.20, pl.24, and p.49 where it is discussed..

Cf. The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, museum accession no.C.27-1978 for an almost identical bowl dated to the Ming dynasty donated by Dr Sydney Smith; see also the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, object no.B60P1220 for another Ming bowl of the same design from the Avery Brundage Collection; another identical bowl sold at Christie's London, 21st March 1966, lot 68 to Sydney L Moss, it sold again at Christie's New York, 16th September 2010, lot 1405, ex Dr William L Corbin Collection, and at Beijing Poly in 2013, lot 1435, where it was catalogued as Ming.