Glazed porcelain plate ‘The three friends of winter and dragon’, with Guangxu mark

A porcelain dish with underglaze decoration in blue and white. It shows in the centre, framed in a double blue circle, a large and imposing five-clawed dragon with its jaws open and looking straight ahead, surrounded by flames, clouds and a central flaming pearl.

Around him, on the rim of the plate, are shown the so-called ‘Three Friends of Winter’; a representation of three great trees, these being the pine (song), the bamboo (zhu) and the apricot (mei). The first two are able to cross the river and the winter night safely, while the third, delicate, only blossoms at a very specific time of the year, when winter begins. 

A six-character mark ‘大清光绪年制’ appears on the base. 

Height: 3.8 cm; Diameter: 17.5 cm