MING DYNASTY CHENGHUA DOUCAI DRAGONS BOWL
Ming Dynasty marked and period Chenghua doucai Dragons amongst the clouds and waves. This finely potted doucai Bowl is painted with four dragons skipping across the waves on the outside and one Dragon in the clouds on the inside. The color purple was developed during the Chenghua reign and it will often look light brownish if you look under a loupe you can see the purplish hue. The doucai painting style is under glaze blue filled in with enamels. The Chenghua potters brought the doucai style wares to a level of contrasting colors that has not been matched since. The Chenghua potters use of contrasting color is very distinct they used soft and bold color that was thought out and well place. This dish is a good example how the Chenghua potters made everything fit and flow with levels, texture, depth and motion in their often whimsical free style of painting. Others tried to duplicate Chenghua doucai but failed by not thinking of the whole picture they would just place their color randomly without any thought. They fail because they did not have the same mind set or spirit of the Chenghua potters long ago, almost as if they could not see the forest through the trees. The base has the six character Chenghua mark in a double circle under glaze. The fine glaze is smooth, glossy, with a whitish tint and seems to take on the color of the biscuit which is typical of most Chenghua wares. The foot ring is slightly tapered and has been wiped over with the glaze with slight burnish edges. Many collector believe Chenghua doucai to be the pinnacle of this style for good reasons. Measures 8 1/8 inches 20.65cm diameter