Impressive large Chinese blue & white dragon bowl. Probably for the Thai market, late 19th/early 20th century of compressed globular form, painted with dragons chasing a flaming pearl above a crashing wave border. Fitted hardwood stand. Diameter 46 cm. Provenance: Estates late Adolphe and Asra Alexander, a German-Thai couple involved with architecture, interior design and import-export merchant trading, initially operating in Bangkok they moved to Brisbane in 1960. Asra was the daughter of a German merchant living in Thailand whose Company imported luxury European goods, and (with Royal warrant) counted the Thai palace among their customers. Thence by descent - private collection, Canberra.