The bowl has a slighted everted lip and small foot rim. It is painted round the exterior in a clear dark blue with two five-clawed dragons pursuing sacred pearls among flowering branches. The plain interior has a small lump on the base. The underside has a Wanli six-character mark within a double circle.

Literature: Anthony du Boulay, The Duberly Collection of Chinese Art at Winchester College (Winchester, 2019), p. 35

Provenance: Bequeathed as part of the Duberly Collection, 1978; purchased by Major Montagu and Lady Eileen Duberly from John Sparks, 25 March 1957 (£52); sold Sotheby’s, London, 3 July 1956, lot 47 (from the property of an American collector)

Location: Treasury, Gallery 2