An exceptionally rare and large Imperial underglaze-blue and iron-red enamel 'nine dragon' dish


Qianlong seal mark and of the periodExquisitely potted with rounded sides rising from a short tapered foot to a flat everted rim, the interior vibrantly painted with a central medallion enclosing a writhing iron-red five-clawed frontal dragon coiling around a flaming pearl, against a ground of underglaze-blue waves, surrounded on the cavetto with four iron-red dragons striding amidst ruyi-shaped clouds rendered in shaded tones of cobalt-blue, each dragon portrayed differently, two of them five-clawed, the other two three-clawed, one winged and detailed with a fish tail, all surrounded by a border of crashing waves on the rim, the exterior vibrantly decorated with four similar dragons striding through clouds.47.5cm (18 2/3in) diam.
|清乾隆 青花礬紅水波雲龍紋折沿大盤 青花「大清乾隆年製」篆書款Provenance: Sir David Newbigging, purchased in China in 1960, and brought from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom in Spring 1984來源：David Newbigging爵士收藏；約於1960年赴華期間購藏，並於1984年春由香港帶赴英國The present lot encapsulates the exacting and refined taste of the Qianlong emperor together with the high skill and artistry of the artisans as well as the innovation and imagination of the Imperial kiln supervisors such as Tang Ying (1682-1756) in charge of the Imperial porcelain manufactory in Jingdezhen. With bold and powerful dragons leaping through crashing waves and wispy clouds, the trio of emperor, artisan and official ensured that this impressively large dish would exude Imperial splendour, power and refinement at Imperial banquets or special Imperial celebratory occasions.Only a handful of Qianlong seal mark and period examples of dishes of this impressive size and bold decoration are known to exist in either public or private collections. See one example, however, in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p.275. See also another large dish decorated with iron-red dragon on an underglaze-blue background, Qianlong seal mark and of the period, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl.956; and a further example in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, illustrated in Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006, no.53.Dishes of this design first began during the Yongzheng period, which, in turn, were inspired by an early-Ming dynasty pattern. See for example, a blue and white dish, Xuande mark and period, painted with a side-facing five-clawed dragon in the centre among crashing waves, illustrated in Xuande Imperial Kiln Excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1998, no.87. The Yongzheng emperor applied himself to harnessing the artistic and material resources of his revamped workshop system to forge a new Imperial style bearing his personal imprint and no object could be made and released without his approval, often at every step of the design-make process. Indeed, he was known to have sent antiques from the palace to Jingdezhen both in order to set standards and as a model and inspiration for designs. Given the Yongzheng emperor's attention to detail the craftsmen responded to the emperor's requests with creative ingenuity. This is evident from the use of space on the dish exhibiting the successful transfer of a pattern originally made for much smaller vessels. The different design elements of the dish are composed so as to avoid any sense of overcrowding or awkward spaces or gaps that would affect the overall harmony. The side-facing dragon of the Ming era has been replaced with a frontal dragon and the crashing waves no longer cover part of the dragon's body, with the effect of giving a greater sense of the creature's dominance and strength. The use of iron-red heightens the contrast between the dynamism of the background and that of the dragons while bestowing upon the scene a stronger sense of auspiciousness. The addition of a band of crashing waves encircling the rim of the dish further attests to the skill and design of the craftsmen and kiln supervisors who recognised the need for a large dish to have a band to frame and bring together the expansive design, an element not necessary for the smaller Ming dishes. See a similar blue and white plate with red dragon, Yongzheng mark and of the period, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, vol.3, Hong Kong, 2000, pl.223. Another example is illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.4, London, 2010, no.1723. Another similar underglaze-blue and iron-red enamel 'dragon' dish, Yongzheng mark and period, is in the Umezawa Gallery, Japan, illustrated in Mayuyama: Seventy Years, vol.1, Tokyo, 1976, p.352, no.1055. Dishes of this type continued into the Qianlong emperor's reign. At first glance, they appear to be almost identical to the Yongzheng period ones, but on closer examination, there are some differences. In comparison to the Yongzheng decoration, the Qianlong rendering emphasises orderliness and precision, as evident in the uniformity of the clouds and waves. Moreover, the four dragons on the rim placed on the axis of the central dragon on the Yongzheng dish have been shifted 45 degrees anti-clockwise. According to the Qinggong neiwufu zaobanchu dang'an zonghui (General collection of archival records from the Qing imperial household department workshop), on the 25th day in the sixth month of the third year of the Qianlong period, corresponding to 1738, a Xuanyao hong long qing yun haishui dapan ('large Xuande-kiln dish with red dragons amongst blue clouds and waves') was presented to the emperor together with other porcelains. For large vessels in this group, drawings were ordered to be produced and sent, together with the smaller vessels, to Tang Ying, the well-known supervisor of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in Jingdezhen; see Zhang Faying, ed., Tang Ying du tao wendang, Beijing, 2012, pp.148-152. This entry is likely to refer to a Xuande-style dish, possibly produced in the Qing dynasty, rather than a Ming original. Terms such as Xuanyao or Jiayao ('Jiajing-kiln') were often used in Qing Court record to classify antique-inspired objects. Moreover, there are no known Xuande examples of matching decoration. According to the record, whether the dish mentioned in the record was a prototype or an imitation, due to its large size, a drawing of it had to be sent to Jingdezhen instead. The close resemblance in size, form and decoration between the Yongzheng and Qianlong dishes strongly suggests that such a drawing was likely to have been based on a Yongzheng interpretation of the Ming original.Compare with a very similar underglaze-blue and iron-red enamel 'nine dragon' dish, Qianlong seal mark and of the period, which was sold at Sotheby's 5 October 2016, lot 3305. Another similar dish was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th October 2002, lot 709.