YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE WITHIN A DOUBLE CIRCLE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

The present bowl is decorated with two dragons in pursuit of flaming pearls amongst clouds, painted in green enamel on a lemon-yellow ground. According to Guo Chao Gong Shi vol.17, such decoration and colour could only be used by a high concubine of the emperor in the Qing court.

Compare with a larger example housed in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang: Qingdai yuyao ciqi, vol. I, part II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 7; and one in the Tianminlou Collection, included in Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1987, cat. no. 97.