Dish enameled with "Phoenix and Dragon" design

Title
Dish enameled with "Phoenix and Dragon" design
Creator
Year/Period
2013
Region
Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi province, China
Dimension
Object size: Please refer to individual parts
Accession No.
2020-00673
Credit Line
Gift of Lee Hsien Loong

This large dish is enamelled in tones of vermillion, aubergine, and blue with a five-clawed dragon and phoenix contesting a flaming pearl in the centre amidst ruyi cloud scrolls and flames, a design widely used at the Jingdezhen kilns since the late Ming dynasty. Next to the pearl is the signature and seal of Lee Khoon Choy (1924-2016) a journalist-turned-politician often described as the last People’s Action Party old guard office holder still alive until his death in 2016 at the age of 92. The dish was commissioned from a commercial kiln in Jingdezhen, China by Lee, and presented to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew on 6 August 2013. This gift most likely commemorated the launch of Lee’s book, Golden Dragon and Purple Phoenix: The Chinese and their multi-ethnic descendants in Southeast Asia.