A SMALL CHINESE IMPERIAL YELLOW-GROUND 'DRAGON' SAUCER DISH

SIX CHARACTER GUANGXU MARK AND OF THE PERIOD 1875-1908

Decorated to the centre with two incised dragons picked out in aubergine and green enamel, the beasts contest a sacred pearl amidst stylised flames, with sprays of peaches and blossoms to the cavetto, the underside with two further dragons divided by lingzhi branches, 10.8cm.

Provenance: formerly the collection of Henry Mazot (1882-1956). Henry Mazot 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. Marchant, Qing Mark and Period Monochromes and Enamelled Wares, 1981, no.29 for a comparable Daoguang piece; see also The British Museum, registration no.PDF.777 for a similar Kangxi dish on loan from the Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art; see also G Avitabile, From the Dragon's Treasure, Chinese Porcelain from the 19th and 20th centuries in the Weishaupt Collection, p.117, no.165 for a Xuantong example.