Page 18 - Sotheby's Asia Week March 2024 Chinee Art

This moonflask has been masterfully executed to
both blessings and longevity’). This symbolism, rooted in
resemble the celebrated blue and white wares of the early Chinese culture, makes the moonflask particularly fitting as
15th century through the use of the ‘heaped and piled’ a meaningful gift, especially on occasions such as birthdays.
technique to render the designs. With a keen attention to
detail, the craftsman successfully replicated the uneven Qianlong mark and period moonflasks of this type are held in
blue tones characteristic of the early Ming period. The important museums and private collections worldwide; see
technique, achieved through meticulous manipulation of one in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (accession no.
cobalt pigment, mirrors the natural variations resulting 中瓷003549N000000000); another in the Nanjing Museum,
from the firing process. Its flattened globular form, tall illustrated in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing
and gently waisted neck, and two handles draw inspiration Dynasty, Shanghai, 2004, cat. no. 220; see also one in
from early Ming prototypes. For example, see a Yongle Newfields (formerly known as the Indianapolis Museum
reign moonflask adorned with flower sprays, formerly of Art), Indianapolis, included in the Museum’s exhibition
in the collection of the Ottoman Sultans and now in the Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese
Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, illustrated in Regina Art, Indianapolis, 1983, cat. no. 116; and a fourth, included
Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, in the exhibition Ch’ing Porcelain from the Wah Kwong
Istanbul, vol. 2, London, 1986, pl. 613. Collection, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong, 1973, cat. no. 66. Further examples include one
The design of peaches and bats, with its highly auspicious from the collection of R.I.C. Herridge, sold in our Hong Kong
message, appears to have originated in the Yongzheng rooms, 29th November 1978, lot 235; another sold in the
reign and gained popularity during the Qianlong period. The same rooms, 7th October 2015, lot 3725; and a third, sold in
combination of the bat (fu) and peach (shoutao) creates our London rooms. 9th November 2011, lot 201.
the auspicious pun fushou shuangquan (‘May you have
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