Hong Kong may be small on the map, but in the world of Chinese art collecting it feels limitless. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Christie’s in Asia, the auction house is marking the occasion with a headline sale, Pearls of The Orient - Treasures from Hong Kong Private Collectors. Held on 30 April, the auction brings together works from leading local collections including Muwen Tang, Heng Ya Tang, and Songde Tang Collections.
Within this stellar line-up, Lawrence Chan of the Dawentang Collection stands out as a central figure. A former two‑term Chairman of Hong Kong’s elite collectors group Min Chiu Society and a founding member of the Hong Kong Palace Museum’s Acquisition Committee, Chan is widely respected for his discerning eye and refined taste.
This season, more than thirty works from Dawentang will come to market, many of which were exhibited in Honouring Tradition and Heritage: Min Chiu Society at Sixty at Hong Kong Museum of Art. Leading the group are two important Qianlong‑period porcelains decorated in underglaze blue and copper red: a meiping with nine dragons rising from crashing waves, and a moonflask with dragons clutching flaming pearls.
Lot 931 | A magnificent imperial copper-red-decorated and blue and white 'nine dragons' meiping | Property from the Dawentang Collection
Qianlong period (1736-1795)
Height: 34.5 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 11 April 2008, lot 2923
Estimate: HK$6,000,000 - 10,000,000
The dragon is a defining imperial motif in Chinese art, symbolizing the majesty and authority of the throne. The meiping form, by contrast, is celebrated for its tapering silhouette and elegant, flowing lines. Both are classics of Chinese porcelain, yet the combination of a vigorously striding dragon on the refined body of a meiping is highly unusual.
Across public and private collections, vases that bring together nine dragons on a single vessel are vanishingly rare. Only a handful of examples with a similar shape and decoration to the present piece are known, including closely comparable vases in the Palace Museum in Beijing and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. In the market, a blue and white version of the same size was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2023, estimated at HK$7 million and achieving nearly HK$13.8 million with premium.
A closely comparable example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York
On this meiping, each of the nine dragons has a distinct expression and posture, their sinuous bodies full of power and energy. Painted in a rich copper red, they seem to spring to life under the brush: some soar into the clouds, some turn mid‑flight, others charge across the surface. Below, crashing waves and jagged rocks set the dramatic stage for the dragons at sea, and also suggest a wish that the empire’s “rivers and mountains” remain secure and enduring.
On closer inspection, two of the dragons are shown winged. These are yinglong, a mythical “winged dragon” that, in early legends, helps rulers defeat their enemies and tame the floods. As the noblest of dragons, yinglong carries associations of protection, good government, and a well‑ordered realm.
Compared with painting on a flat surface, composing such a design on a three-dimensional vessel poses far greater challenges. Yet from every angle the nine dragons on this meiping are spaced with remarkable assurance – alternating density and openness without feeling cramped.
Copper red relies on copper as the colouring agent, which is highly volatile at the high temperatures of porcelain firing. Copper red is notoriously temperamental in the kiln: at the high temperatures needed for porcelain, the colour can easily burn out or turn muddy, and even the imperial workshops often ended up with dull, greyish results. Successful examples were few.
Since both underglaze copper red and underglaze blue are applied beneath the glaze, the vessel can only be fired once, yet the two pigments require slightly different firing temperatures and kiln atmospheres. Achieving the present example’s vivid, clear colours and subtle shading would have required remarkable control.
In both shape and design, this meiping looks back to early Ming prototypes. One close example is a Xuande blue and white stem cup with nine dragons in the National Palace Museum in Taipei, where dragons also plunge through rolling waves with similarly lively movement. However, no meiping with nine dragons from the early Ming has so far come to light.
Stem cup with nine dragons decoration in underglaze blue | Xuande period | Palace Museum in Taipei
Lot 924 | A superb and exceptionally rare copper-red-decorated and blue and white 'dragon' moonflask | Property from the Dawentang Collection
Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795)
Height: 32 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s London, 12 June 1990, lot 305
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 October 2006, lot 1063
Estimate: HK$3,500,000 - 5,000,000
Another highlight first seen in the Min Chiu Society’s 60th anniversary exhibition is this striking moonflask. Like the meiping, it combines underglaze blue with underglaze copper red to show dragons above the sea, but the design and shape give it a very different character.
The moonflask itself is particularly elegant, with a flattened, rounded body on a short straight foot, a sloping shoulder, and a cylindrical neck flanked by strap handles. At 32 cm high, it has a pleasing, manageable scale – large enough to make a strong impression in a cabinet, yet still intimate enough to be appreciated in the hand.
Both the meiping and the moonflask are classic forms in Chinese ceramics, each carrying its own associations.
The meiping originated as a wine vessel: its narrow neck made it easy to seal, while the full, tapering body allowed wine to pour smoothly. It later became popular as a flower vase. In Chinese connoisseurship, this form is often likened to the ideal male physique – its broad shoulders symbolizing strength and responsibility, while its narrow mouth suggests restraint in speech, a highly valued Confucian virtue.
The moonflask, by contrast, is generally thought to have two possible origins. One theory traces it back to metalwork from the Islamic world of West Asia, where such flasks were used for water or wine. Another links it to ceramic saddle flasks of the Song-Yuan period, whose side lugs allowed them to be tied to a horse’s harness.
A closely comparable example in the Palace Museum in Beijing
In Qing imperial records, this type of vessel is referred to as a magua ping or “riding-jacket vase”. According to court archives, on the 8th day of the 4th month of the Qianlong 7th year (1742), “court official Hai Wang received an order to make a few magua ping with copper-red dragons and underglaze-blue clouds over a white ground, to be passed on to Tang Ying,” the legendary kiln supervisor. The present moonflask may be one of those recorded flasks.
Comparable pieces are extremely few. The Palace Museum in Beijing holds a near-identical example, and another, slightly larger, was once exhibited at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. In the market, a closely related moonflask – formerly in the collection of the British Rail Pension Fund – was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in 1996.
Lot 930 | An exceedingly fine and exceptional pair of blue and white garlic-mouth 'sanduo' vases | Property from the Dawentang Collection
Qianlong six-character seal marks in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795)
Height: 28.2 cm
Provenance:
- S. Marchant and Son, London
- Sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 October 2003, lot 635
Estimate: HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
The term “garlic‑mouth vase” comes from the rounded, bulb-like mouth, which resembles a head of garlic. The form can be traced back to bronze wine ewers of the Qin and Han dynasties. In the Song period, when there was a strong interest in reviving antique styles, potters reinterpreted that robust bronze form into smooth, luminous porcelain.
Production of garlic‑mouth vases reached a high point in the Ming and Qing dynasties, though with clear stylistic differences. Many Ming examples are quite elaborate, with applied decoration or flanges on the neck and shoulder. By contrast, in the Qing dynasty, unnecessary features were removed, and the mouth was simplified.
Garlic-mouth-shaped vessel | Qin to Han Dynasties | Palace Museum in Taipei
On this pair, the tall, slender neck flows gently into soft shoulders, the mouth is full and rounded, and the main body feels balanced. Around the body, the decoration centres on the sanduo – peach, pomegranate, and Buddha’s Hand citron. Together, these three fruits express wishing for long life, many sons, and many blessings. Here, the fruits are plump and ripe, with curling leaves that add movement and freshness.
Similar blue and white garlic‑mouth vases are held in major museums such as the Palace Museum in Taipei and the Nanjing Museum. In the auction market, Christie’s Hong Kong previously sold a very similar single vase from the Wangxinglou Collection for close to HK$2.9 million.
A comparable vase from the Yongzheng period, held in the National Museum of China
Other Highlight Lots:
Lot 903 | A very rare yue celadon ‘zhang qian on a raft’ ewer and cover | Property from the Dawentang Collection
Five Dynasties - early Northern Song dynasty, 10th century
Height: 20.1 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 November 1996, lot 702
Estimate: HK$2,500,000 - 5,000,000
Lot 920 | A fine and rare ru-type glazed octagonal vase | Property from the Dawentang Collection
Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795)
Height: 21.2 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 8 April 2010, lot 1922
Estimate: HK$3,000,000 - 5,000,000
Lot 929 | A rare pair of small falangcai ruby-red ground 'chrysanthemum' dishes | Property from the Dawentang Collection
Yongzheng blue enamel four-character marks in double squares and of the period (1723-1735)
Diameter: 9 cm
Provenance:
- Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 29 October 1991, lot 247
- Offered at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 9 October 2012, lot 3069
Estimate: HK$2,500,000 - 5,000,000
Lot 913 | A fine and very rare copper-red glazed and green-enamelled langyao 'chi dragon' bottle vase | Property from the Dawentang Collection
Kangxi period (1662-1722)
Height: 18.4 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Edward T. Chow
- Collection of Man-Chung Wang
- Sold at Christie’s New York, 19 September 2007, lot 386
Estimate: HK$1,500,000 - 2,500,000
Lot 956 | A very rare ruby-ground yangcai and gilt-decorated ‘eight trigrams’ cong-form vase | Property from the Heng Ya Tang - Hall of Harmonious Grace
Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795)
Height: 20 cm
Provenance:
- An English collection
- Sold at Bonhams London, 10 July 2006, lot 150
Estimate: HK$2,000,000 - 4,000,000
Lot 958 | A magnificent and rare gilt-copper automatic striking 'pavilion' musical clock | Property from the Songde Tang Collection
Qianlong period (1736-1795)
Height: 74.5 cm
Provenance:
- Asprey & Garrard, London, 20 June 2001
Estimate: HK$1,800,000 - 2,200,000
Lot 943 | A carved dengfeng white-glazed sgraffito meiping | Property from the Muwen Tang Collection
Northern Song - Jin dynasty (960-1234)
Height: 33.5 cm
Provenance:
- Collection of Walter Hochstadter (1914-2007)
- Sold at Christie's New York, Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Including Jades from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 19 March 2009, lot 511
- J. J. Lally, no. 4517
Estimate: HK$400,000 - 800,000
Auction Details:
Auction House: Christie's Hong Kong
Sale: Pearls of The Orient - Treasures from Hong Kong Private Collectors
Number of Lots: 58
Date and Time: 30 April 2026 | 11:15 am (Hong Kong local time)
Venue: 6/F, The Henderson, 2 Murray Road, Central, Hong Kong
Preview:
- 23 April 2026 | 10:30 am - 8 pm
- 24 - 29 April 2026 | 10:30 am - 6 pm