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Auction: 16012 - Meiso Mizuhara, The Exhibition Collections, The Chinese Customs Post
Lot: 1514

China
1878-83 The Large Dragon Issue
Design Essays and Proofs
Two preliminary watercolour designs which were prepared for the approval of the Inspector-General of the Chinese Imperial Maritime Customs, Sir Robert Hart.


The first is on laid paper, 7.2 x 5 cm, the design features a central ying-yang in black and yellow with a depiction of the Night-shining Pearl above; the supporters being a phoenix and dragon on an ground of cycas the scroll beneath containing the motto, "ta ch'ing i t'ung wan nien". The colours of the supporters are azure, light green and red with highlights in gold. There are vertical creases each side of the design (very light on the left) and some hinge remainders on the reverse as is to be expected.


The second design is on a high quality wove paper and is more ambitious in both size and scope. Framed within a double-lined black border with incurved corners, 10.6 x 6 cm, the central ying-yang is in yellow and carmine which shades into a pale colour, the Night-shining Pearl in grey and gold with a more elaborate flames above and below. Both supporters are dragons which are tinted in pale and dark blue with their scales in gold, whiskers in grey and gold and tongues and flames behind their heads in scarlet. The scroll beneath is without content and filled in with a wash of grey and gold. There are some glue marks on the reverse, but these do not show through to the design.


These two highly important essays draw on Chinese symbolism and introduce the dragon and Night-shining Pearl which were eventually used in the design of the issued stamps.


provenance: Sir Robert Hart,

John A. Agnew,

Sir Percival David, October 1970



literature: The London Philatelist, February 1928 (a paper presented by J.A. Agnew

The London Philatelist, March 1949, (a paper presented by Sir Percival David)

The Large Dragons, Philip Ireland, 1978


Note that these publications feature most of the following essays

These designs were submitted to Sir Robert Hart when he was Inspector General of Customs; although they were rejected, he included them in his collection. Philip Ireland suggested that these designs are too large and complex to be made into stamps, however, an artist unfamiliar with the constraints of printing stamps would be concentrating on the design concept, wanting to make his designs as pleasing as possible. The fact that these were kept by Sir Robert Hart in his stamp collection is strong evidence that they were genuine proposals for a design for the new stamps

Sold for
HK$650,000