A RARE CHINESE GREEN AND AUBERGINE GLAZED 'DRAGON' DISH

TIANQI 1621-1627

Freely decorated with two incised four-clawed dragons, encircling many pearls, detailed on a green-ground, the reverse and rim glazed yellow, the base unglazed, with a paper label for the South Africa National Gallery Chinese Exhibition 1953, no.145, 13.5cm.

Provenance: from the collection of G R A Murray and thence by descent.

Exhibited: National Gallery of South Africa, Cape Town, Chinese Exhibition, 1953, no.145.

Cf. J Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, p.395, no.12:106 for a closely related, but larger, dragon dish of this type.