A RARE IMPERIAL YELLOW-GROUND GREEN-ENAMELLED 'DRAGON' BOWL Yongzheng six-character mark and of the periodA RARE IMPERIAL YELLOW-GROUND GREEN-ENAMELLED 'DRAGON' BOWLYongzheng six-character mark and of the periodThe bowl with deep rounded sides rising from a tapered foot to a gently flared rim, finely decorated on the exterior with two dragons striding in mutual pursuit amidst flames whilst each reaching for a 'flaming pearl', one creature with its head turned back, the other looking forward, each finely incised in the biscuit and enamelled in vibrant green against a brilliant opaque lemon-yellow ground, all further below a zigzag border of ruyi clouds divided by a green fillet and a single incised line at the rim, the interior and the base reserved in white, the base inscribed in underglaze blue with the six-character reign mark within a double circle. 14cm (5 1/2in) diam. 清雍正 黃地綠彩龍紋盌青花「大清雍正年製」楷書款Provenance: S. Marchant & Son, LondonA British private collection, and thence by descent來源：倫敦古董商S. Marchant & Son英國私人收藏，並由後人保存迄今The present bowl is remarkable for its intricately-incised dragon design and strikingly contrasting colour scheme, but also for its historical context at the Qing Court. This bowl would have displayed the very high status of its female owner.Strict regulations determined the variety and quantity of tableware to be used by the different Imperial members during the Qing dynasty. According to 'The History of the Imperial House and Court' Guochao gongshi, first compiled in the seventh year of the Qianlong reign (1742), and 'The Illustrated Regulations for Ceremonial Paraphernalia of the Qing Dynasty' Huangchao Liqi Tushi, edited in 1759, vessels decorated with designs of green dragons on a yellow ground, could only be used by the emperor's concubines of the second rank at the Court. The prototype to the colour palette and decoration of these bowls appears to be inspired by the 'green dragon' designs of the early 16th century; see, for example, a yellow and green 'dragon' vase, Zhengde mark and period, in the Sir Percival David Collection, London, illustrated by S.Jenyns, Ming Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1953, pl.84b, where it is noted that reproductions of Zhengde wares incised in green on a yellow ground were among the items included in the Yongzheng list of porcelains supplied to the Court compiled by Tang Ying in 1729.A similar bowl decorated with green writhing dragons striding on a yellow ground in the Palace Museum, Yongzheng six-character mark and of the period, in the Qing Court Collection, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Miscellaneous Enamelled Porcelains Plain Tricoloured Porcelains, Shenzhen, 2009, p.119, no.98.Two nearly identical green and yellow-enamelled 'dragon' bowls, Yongzheng marks and period, were sold respectively at Sotheby's Paris, 7 October 2015, lot 3717 and Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2011, lot 3733.