A magnificent and exceptionally rare copper-red and underglaze-blue ‘dragon’ vase, tianqiuping, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆　青花釉裏紅雲龍紋天球瓶　《大清乾隆年製》款

robustly potted with a spherical body surmounted by a stout cylindrical neck, masterfully composed and superbly painted around the exterior in vibrant cobalt-blue and brilliantly fired copper-red with a powerful three-clawed dragon in vigorous motion, its sinuous scaly body coiling rhythmically through billowing clouds, twisting dynamically around the body and ascending the neck like an unrolled handscroll wrapped encircling the veseel, the dragon finely drawn with crisp delineated lines and stippled dots, portrayed with large bulging eyes beneath heavy brows, a flaring snout flanked by long curling whiskers, and gaping jaws revealing menacing teeth, crowned by a pair of prominent long horns swept back over its head, the clouds executed in a soft painterly manner, worked in graded washes of cobalt that merge seamlessly without visible brush strokes, all above a turbulent sea with crested waves surging from the base and below a classic wave band encirling the rim, the countersunk base inscribed with a six-character seal mark

47.8 cm