Page 117 - Bonham's Asian Art London November 12, 2015
P. 117
127 In form and design, the flask is a revival of the blue and porcelain
A BLUE AND WHITE ‘PRUNUS AND MAGPIE’ MOONFLASK, wares produced during the Yongle reign of the Ming dynasty.
BIANHU
18th century Magpies and prunus form the auspicious rebus ‘xishang meishao’,
The circular body with slender neck flanked by two ruyi-shaped meaning ‘happiness up to your eyebrows’. Compare the flask
handles, each side boldly painted in cobalt blue depicting a magpie included in the Sir Percival David Collection, illustrated by R.Krahl and
perched on a flowering branch, with prunus on one side and a J.Harrison-Hall, Chinese Ceramics. Highlights of the Sir Percival David
flowering fruit tree on the other, all between two borders of stylised Collection, London, 2009, p.61.
foliage, the base unglazed.
24.8cm (9 3/4in) high A similar flask, dated to the reign of the Yongzheng emperor, is
illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang
£6,000 - 8,000 CNY58,000 - 77,000 Collection, vol.4, n.1712, p.233, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 April
HK$71,000 - 94,000 2011, lot 76. Another similar flask, Yongzheng period, was sold at
Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 June 2015, lot 3126.
十八世紀 青花喜上梅梢抱月瓶
FINE CHINESE ART | 115
