A pair of dragon and phoenix bowls, late Qing dynasty (1644-1912), with Kangxi six character mark.
Rounded sides and everted rim, painted around the exterior with a red and a green dragon galloping through clouds, divided by a pair of plunging phoenix, beneath a border of emblems around the rim. The interior of each with a red dragon medallion. Diameter 14,8 cm.
Insignificant firing defect.
Provenance
From the Collection of Wilhelm Montelius (1852-1918), thence by descent. The Montelius family had a long family tradition of being lawyers, Wilhelm however became the Director of Swedish Telephone company Ericsson from 1901 -1916, and his brother Oscar Montelius (1843-1921) became archaeologist and member of the Swedish National Heritage Board. Wilhelms passion for collecting oriental ceramics and works of art was aided by Ericssons business in China at the time. Before World War One he managed to send out his staff to acquire several important pieces.