18 cm. (7 1/8 in.) high

Finely-potted with broad shoulders surmounted by a short upright neck, deftly and meticulously enamelled in rich and vivid green tones depicting two front-facing and four further striding four-clawed dragons writhing with undulating scaly bodies and outstretched limbs amidst scattered flames above a band of green-enamelled leaf lappets at the foot, the base with a six-character kaishu mark within double circles in underglaze blue.The preset lot is an extremely rare example dating to the Yongzheng period; much rarer in comparison to the more widely-known ovoid jars and covers of the Qianlong period. Compare to a related Yongzheng green-enamelled ‘dragon' jar but with cover in the Qing Court collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Shanghai, 2009, p.92, no.73. Unlike the current lot however, the aforementioned example is a much more common variant of these types of ovoid jars; they are decorated with two larger writhing dragons as the main frieze, followed by the Eight Buddhist Emblems at interspersed evenly at the shoulder encircling the neck. For a more relatable example with similar design, see a Yongzheng iron red and green-enamelled ovoid jar and cover in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in , p.303, no.253; and another similar pair without covers, originally acquired from Alfred Speelman in London on 6 June 1968 and thence by descent within the family of an important European private collection, subsequently sold at Bonhams Hong Kong, Exceptional Chinese Art from a European Private Collection, 3 December 2015, lot 3.Provenance:Christie's Hong Kong, 29 October 2001, lot 829

Price estimate:
HKD: 2,200,000 - 3,000,000
USD: 280,500 - 382,500

Auction Result:
HKD: 2,596,000