Page 81 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

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A RARE BLUE AND WHITE MOON FLASK, BIANHU
MING DYNASTY, LATE 15TH-EARLY 16TH CENTURY
The fattened spherical body is raised on a quatrefoil foot and is decorated on true of a complete example illustrated by J. A. Pope in Chinese Porcelains
each side with a central recess enclosing a fower head surrounded by two from the Ardebil Shrine, Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, 1956, pl. 69, no.
pairs of lions playing amidst fames, babao and the ribbons trailing from two 29.459. On the Ardebil Shrine fask, the decoration on the neck is identical
further fower heads, all within a line border and an outer feld of peony scroll. to that seen on the present moon fask, but has two bosses that protrude
The narrow sides are decorated with a band of diaper pattern below the loop from the narrow sides of the body. This fask is also illustrated by T. Misugi,
handles that fank the waisted lower section of the neck encircled by upright Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East, Topkapi and Ardebil, vol. 3, The
leaves below an encircling ridge and the tapering upper section decorated Ardebil Shrine Collection, Hong Kong, 1981 rev. ed., p. 178, A. 101, where it
with a band of tall petal lappets and narrow bands of overlapping petals and is also illustrated with two other fasks of this type, both missing the upper
key fret. section of the neck, and both without bosses. Another incomplete moon
fask of similar shape is illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in
13æ in. (35 cm.) high, Japanese wood box
the British Museum, London, 2001, pp. 179-80, no. 7:5, which is missing most
of the upper neck. It, too, has a quatrefoil foot and a recessed medallion on
$30,000-50,000
each side, but like the fask in the Ardebil Shrine, it has raised bosses on the
narrow sides. The author relates this shape to Islamic metalwork prototypes.
Based on the published examples, none of the fasks of this type share the
What makes this bianhu and others like it unusual is the addition of a tall,
same decoration on the body. The decoration is, however, always densely
tapering upper neck to a conventional moon fask shape. A similar, but
arranged and painted in a dark cobalt blue, which according to Harrison-Hall
incomplete, fask of this unusual shape is illustrated by R. Krahl and J. Ayers
is typical of Hongzhi-period wares of this type.
in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. II, Yuan and
Ming Dynasty Porcelains, London, 1986, p. 543, no. 657, where one can see 明十五世紀末/十六世紀初 青花開光花卉八寶獅紋扁壺
that the foot and top of the neck are missing. The decoration is not identical,
but is similarly arranged, and the painting style is very similar. This is also
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