Seal mark in underglaze blue. Each dish is decorated to the centre with a five-clawed dragon amongst cresting waves. The exterior is similarly decorated with nine dragons evenly separated by cresting waves. Diameter 17.5 cm.
From the collection of a Scandinavian nobleman, who had a long diplomatic career starting, in the 1920s as a young attache in China, later on as ambassador in China.
Compare; A dish with this decoration at Christies, lot 1007, Live Auction 20719. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 23 Sep 2022.
Compare, Christies, 6 November 2018, Live Auction 15488. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Lot 166.
A Daoguang example of the second pattern of iron-red dragons on a crested-wave ground was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Nineteen Century Mark and Period Porcelain, 1991, no. 29, p. 34; another is illustrated by Peter Lam in Imperial Porcelain of Late Qing from the Kwan Collection, Art Gallery . The Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983, no. 23, p. 55.