In honor of the Chinese New Year that begins this year on February 10, I am showing you a gorgeous pattern known as Dragon. It is an English transferware pattern, circa 1800, but it is copied from a Chinese original design. What is unusual about this pattern, is that the dragon's tail and claws flow over the rim onto the back of the plate! The back of the plate also features a pseudo Chinese mark. The plate is printed underglaze in blue and painted over the glaze in vibrant burnt orange and green. According to the entry of this pattern in the database of the Transferware Collectors Club, http://www.transcollectorsclub.org, the dragon holds the Flaming Pearl in his claws. The Flaming Pearl (I hope someone will enlighten me about this) is the round shell-like object in his claw on the front of the plate. I assume there is also symbolism regarding the cloud-like objects. Any help will be much appreciated.
This has been so helpful, thankyou! Wish I could add pictures of our set.
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