A superb and rare blue and white 'dragon' brush washer, Mark and period of Xuande | 明宣德 青花雲龍紋十瓣葵花式洗 《大明宣德年製》款

Property of a Lady

A superb and rare blue and white 'dragon' brush washer,

Mark and period of Xuande

女史收藏

明宣德 青花雲龍紋十瓣葵花式洗

《大明宣德年製》款

finely potted with upright sides divided into ten mallow-shaped lobes forming shallow radiating ribs on the interior and flaring at the rim to evoke a blooming flower, superbly painted in vivid tones of cobalt-blue enhanced by characteristic 'heaping and pilling', the very slightly convex centre decorated with a writhing five-clawed dragon plunging amid lingzhi-shaped cloud swirls and flames, all within a double-line border repeated around the rim, the exterior with ten quatrefoil panels enclosing alternately leaping and plunging dragons amid swirling clouds and flames, all between further double-line borders at the foot and mouth rims, the unglazed footrim neatly cut to conforming lobed shape, the slightly concave base inscribed with the six-character mark within a double-circle

16.8 cm