I can't believe it's September already! This means there's only a few weeks left before the autumn Asian art auction season (and my hectic travel schedule) begins again.
I'll be heading to New York next week to get a head start on the Fall edition of Asia Week New York. This will be followed by a quick trip to Hong Kong to view the upcoming Au Bak Ling Collection at Christie's in their new gallery space at The Henderson. I'll then somehow make it to Vancouver at the end of September to finish cataloguing my upcoming Asian art online sale at Heffel, which is scheduled to run from October 3-31.
Over the summer, one of my more interesting projects was to help a client research a Chinese Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) porcelain 'dragon' dish with Qianlong mark and period (1736-1795). He acquired the dish at Christie's New York back in 2010.
This definitely wasn't one of my formal Asian art appraisal reports, but every now and then I do have requests from people to write more in-depth research on an art object they acquired.
The last time I blogged about a similar project was back in 2021 where I wrote about a Chinese green glazed pilgrim flask from the Northern Qi to Sui Dynasty (AD 550-618) that another client had purchased.
For this current project, I was asked to provide more history of the dish's design and find some market comparables. (Please note that I am not discussing the dish's value or purchase price, but these numbers can easily be searched on the Christie's website. However, I can bring up some market comparables from over the past decade.)
Image 1a. Here is a photo of the front side of the dragon dish. The dish measures 17.5 centimetres in diameter and is in perfect condition. It depicts a whimsical dragon in iron red enamels 'twisting' while soaring over a blue and white ocean ground.
In Chinese culture, the dragon is a mythical beast that descends from the heavens. Dragons often symbolize the Imperial family, the emperor, and/or auspicious moments. This particular dragon is very serpentine-like and its arms and legs are sprawled outwards in different directions. There are five sharp claws on each hand and foot, and wavy wisps of flame emanate from its body.
In Chinese art, dragons are often seen chasing the flaming pearl of wisdom. However in dishes like this present example, the dragon does not have a companion pearl. Does this mean that the dragon has already found the pearl? Or maybe the dragon is quickly 'twisting' because it has a pearl in its sight.
The ocean in the background is very well-detailed and is contained within a double bowstring line. The edge of the dish has a similar double line to frame the scene.
With the growth of the Chinese art market, the value of these types of dragon dishes have increased significantly up until the market's peak around 2013. Historically, these types of dragon dishes would have been one of the first porcelain wares you purchased if you were starting a Chinese ceramic collection. If you look at international Chinese art auction catalogues from the 1980's and 1990's, similar dragon dishes make a couple of appearances each season.
In the current market, these dragon dishes have become increasingly rare. And despite the slight slowdown in the Chinese art market during the past year, its prices have remained relatively stable.
There are two reason for this. Firstly, the quantity of mark and period porcelain have become increasingly less when appearing in the market. This is because the majority have been acquired by major international collections over the past century, and it takes a while before they appear (if ever!) on the market again.
Secondly, there tends to be less 'fake' versions of this type of dish. The waves are very difficult to reproduce, and hence look hideous on modern reproductions. So for the most part, a dish like this present example is more often than not correct, and will retain a steady value as long as it has good provenance and is in fine condition.
Image 1b. Here is the reverse of the dragon dish. You can see that the backside has more blue and white waves along the edge, and on them are nine smaller iron red dragons - all in a different pose.
The base has a short foot rim and is enamelled white. In the centre is a six-character reign mark 大清乾隆年製 which translates to 'made in the Qianlong reign of the Qing Dynasty'.
Image 1c. And here is a close up of the dish's reign mark. It's very difficult to get a detailed shot with current iPhones! The characters are all written in Chinese stylized 'seal' script.
Image 1d. This is the detail of the dish's side. You can see that the iron red dragons are each represented in different poses. Above the beasts is a patterned band of interlocking Chinese coins.
Image 2. The present dragon dish wasn't the first time a dish of similar design existed. A much earlier version, and one of my favourites, can be found at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Here we have a blue and white dragon dish from the Xuande period (1426-1435) of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). With museum accession number 1975.99, its provenance line reads 'Gift of Mrs. Richard E. Linburn, in memory of Richard E. Linburn, 1975'.
Like the pesent example, this dragon is on an ocean background. However, this design is in blue and white and the dragon is more fierce - it appears to be lunging out of the dish.
This is an extremely rare dragon dish and similar examples very seldom appear on the auction market. The quality of the blues is simply stunning since you can see different thicknesses of the cobalt for the dragon and the ocean waves.
Similar dishes to this Xuande example are mostly in major museums like the Met or the Taipei National Palace Museum.
Image 3a. One of my favourite Qing Dynasty variations of this porcelain dragon dish can be found in the Tianminlou Collection in Hong Kong. I wrote about the collectors in December 2023 blog.
I had the pleasure of visiting the Tianminlou Collection back in 2018 and was able to handle this extremely rare dragon dish. This particular piece is from the Kangxi Period (1662-1722) and the design features a blue and white dragon over a copper-red ocean ground.
The design of this dragon pays homage to the Met's Xuande example, and you can see it slowly evolving into the Qianlong example featured in this blog.
Image 3b. Here is a reverse view of the Kangxi dragon dish. There is a six-character reign mark 大清康熙年製 which translates to 'made in the Kangxi reign of the Qing Dynasty'. You can also see that the edge follows a similar pattern of nine dragons on ocean waves.
Image 4. (Image courtesy of Christie's) Though not as prevalent as the 1980's and 1990's, there are still many comparables to the present dragon dish that have sold over the past decade. (If you scroll down, I will showcase some variants as well).
In this image we see a very similar Qianlong example, in good condition, that sold at Christie's Hong Kong on 5 December 2023, lot 3115 for HKD 252,000 (approximately CAD 44,500) including buyer's premium.
Image 5. Here is a variation of the same dragon dish which I refer to as an 'orange dragon'. The enamels on the dragon and the ocean waves tend to be a little bit thicker, and the dragon features a fashionable mohawk.
I was able to examine this example during a Sotheby's Hong Kong preview where it eventually sold on 1 June 2018, lot 530, for HKD 250,000 (approximately CAD 44,000) including buyer's premium.
Image 6. (Image courtesy of Christie's) The image here depicts a 'plain' version of this type of dragon dish. Only the blue and white enamels have been applied, and many specialists and collectors wonder if this was a deliberate move by the artist. These 'plain' blue and white dishes don't sell as high as the coloured examples.
This particular blue and white dragon dish sold for USD 16,250 (approximately CAD 22,300) including buyer's premium at Christie's New York on 14 December 2021, lot 68.
Image 7. (Image courtesy of Christie's) And here's a very rare Qianlong reverse-decorated example of this type of dragon dish. The dragon is actually not painted in at all, but its outline is left amongst the blue of the ocean waves.
This example sold at Christie's New York, Chinese Ceramics from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15 Sept 2016, lot 969 for USD 43,750 (approximately CAD 60,000) including buyer's premium.
This was a sale that I remember fondly previewing since I had only been one year removed from working full time in the auction world. And this was the first time an instutution as prestigious as the Met deaccessioned pieces from their Chinese art collection.
Image 8. (Image courtesy of Sotheby's) Other variations of the Qianlong iron red dragon dish were made during subsequent periods of the Qing Dynasty. I am aware of Jiaqing (1796-1820) and Daoguang (1821-1850) examples, but I don't recall seeing anything from the Xianfeng to Xuantong reigns (1851-1911). However, I'm sure they do exist!
Here is a Daoguang example that sold at Sotheby's London on 17 May 2023, lot 1, formerly from the Collection of Dr Wuo Kiun. This dish realised GBP 20,320 (approximately CAD 36,500), which is extraordinary considering this is of a later Qing vintage. As you can see from the photo, the quality of the dragon and waves are not as refined as earlier 18th Century examples.
In conclusion, the iron red porcelain dragon dish I was studying is a really lovely piece. Despite being a more common design during the Qing Dynasty, it is still very rare and an excellent study piece for those trying to learn more about Chinese porcelain. It was a definite pleasure spending so much time with this dish and putting all the comparable examples together.
Thank you for reading this blog and I hope you enjoyed learning more about Chinese porcelain. I will report on my travels to New York shortly and please follow my Asian art adventures through my Instagram @anthonywuart.