A CHINESE IMPERIAL YELLOW-GROUND 'DRAGON' SAUCER DISH

SIX CHARACTER KANGXI MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 1662-1722

Incised with two dragons in pursuit of a sacred pearl amidst flames, one dragon highlighted in aubergine enamel, the other picked out in green, the underside with bunches of grapes, all reserved on a pale yellow ground, 13.2cm.

Provenance: formerly the collection of Henry Mazot (1882-1956), and thence by descent; and then purchased directly from the family.

Henry Mazot (1882-1956) lived in Beijing from the 1920s. He worked for the Bank of Indochina there and eventually became the chairman. The Mazot family left Beijing in 1946 and returned to France, settling in Normandy. Most of the Chinese porcelain in the family collection was left in trunks in the basement of their chateau from 1946 until Christmas 2015, when Henry Mazot's granddaughter, who had inherited the home, decided to open them.

Cf. The British Museum, registration no.PDF.777 for a dish of the same design on loan from the Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art; see also The Wonders of the Potter's Palette: Qing Ceramics from the Collection of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, pp.58-59, no.24 for another similar example.