Size: 51.3 cm. (D)
Painted in deep rich cobalt blue to simulate ‘heaping’ and piling' to the centre of the interior with a large ferocious five clawed dragon shown full face and with wings spread as it leaps amidst a continuous leafy meander bearing large stylised lotus blooms, with two dragons striding among further composite foliate meander in a band below a border of crashing waves at the rim, the exterior similarly painted with two striding dragons.
Majestic and powerful, dishes like this were made to impress, representing the Emperor's dominion over the land and sea, and were used at imperial banquets and on special celebratory occasions, when thousands of guests were invited to dine with the emperor and large quantities of meals were served.
Dishes of this design were influenced by much smaller dishes from the Xuande (1426-1435) period, similarly painted with dragons striding amidst peony scrolls, all of which are side-facing, such as one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in《 A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum. Hsuan-te Ware I》, Taipei, 2000, pl. 2. Furthermore, the stippled blue dots on the flowers and leaves were added to evoke the accidental appearance of cobalt-blue specks characteristic of early Ming blue and white, known as ‘heaping and piling’.
Examples of this impressive size and vigorous decoration are rare, such as a similar ‘dragon dish’ Qianlong seal mark and period, recorded by A.du Boulay, in《Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics》Oxford, 1984, page.203, no.2, see also Christie's Hong Kong, 30 October 2001, lot 813, Sotheby's New York, 5 December 1995, lot 295. For related large blue and white dishes, Qianlong seal mark and period, painted with a full-faced dragon pursuing a pearl enclosing a ‘shou’ character, surrounded by eight further dragons all amidst clouds; see one example illustrated by R.Krahl and C.von Spee,《 Chinese Ceramics from the Gulexuan Collection》, Lünen, 2003, no.123; another example, which was sold at Christie's New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1667.
PROVENANCE:
A Distinguished European Private Collection