MING DYNASTY (1368-1644)

Both of these plaques were part of a set of belt plaques. The larger of the two is stylistically similar to one which is the central plaque on a Ming dynasty jade belt in the Qing Court collection illustrated in The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum - 41 - Jadeware (II), Hong Kong, 1995, pp. 204-5, no. 166. As with the present plaque, the dragon is shown amidst leafy flower stems, although of a different kind of flower, against an openwork ground of tendrils.