Lot description
the rectangular beaded top painted and inlaid in mother-of-pearl with a pair of confronting sinuous and scaly five-clawed dragons in pursuit of a large central flaming pearl, enclosed within wide borders containing eight lobed panels each with either a frontal dragon clutching a flaming pearl or an elongated dragon grasping for the flaming pearl, each panel separated by a wan diaper ground, the sides painted in gilt, green, red and white with further pairs of confronting dragons and flaming pearls, the recessed apron similarly decorated, all supported on four slightly splayed legs of circular section facetted on the inner side and widening near the base, each painted with vertical pairs of writhing dragons rising above crashing waves and a floral scrolls, terminating in metal bracketed feet, the legs reinforced by two pairs of double-stretchers at the narrow sides, the underside lightly incised and painted in gilt with the six-character Wanli mark
