The glaze on vases like this one is thick without running: the decoration is cut and scratched into the body at different depths, the glaze pools in the hollows and turns a shade darker there. The dragon's body circles the vessel, its scales chiselled one by one, the edges softened by the glaze until they feel round under a fingertip.
Ask staff to tilt the light when you see it at the preview. The catalogue photograph is flat frontal light, which greys the colour; the blue in the celadon only appears under raking light. An estimate has been published, and the traceable provenance is appended to the condition report.
