Page 198 - Christie's Fine Chiense Works of Art November 2018 London

A RARE LARGE MING-STYLE BLUE AND WHITE
MOONFLASK, BIANHU

ROSEMARY SCOTT, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC CONSULTANT

This magnifcent fask is exceptionally large, and takes both BC-AD 250), which is roughly contemporary with the Han
its form and its decoration from vessels made in the early dynasty in China (a number are preserved in the collection
15th century. The Yongzheng Emperor was, like his father, a of the British Museum). A number of glazed pottery fasks
keen antiquarian and a signifcant number of the art items of fattened circular form with handles on either side of the
made for his court were made in antique style. The blue and neck are found among Sassanian ceramics (AD 224-642).
white porcelains of the early 15th century were particularly A small Sassanian fask with turquoise glaze, from Šuš, in
admired, and so their style was often adopted for imperial the Iran Bastan Museum, is close to the Parthian example,
Yongzheng wares. Indeed, the famous director of the and reasonably close to one of the early ffteen century
imperial kilns, Tang Ying (唐英1682-1756), who frst came Chinese porcelain moon-fask shapes - the strap handles
to Jingdezhen as resident assistant in 1728 and stayed until joining the lower part neck, if not the mouth (The World’s
well into the Qianlong reign, was especially celebrated for Great Collections - Oriental Ceramics, Vol. 4, Iran Bastan
his success in imitating earlier wares. The 1795 Jingdezhen Museum Tehran, Tokyo, 1981, colour plate 12). A green
tao lu 景德鎮陶錄by 藍浦Lan Pu noted that: ‘his close copies glazed earthenware pilgrim fask, also from Šuš, dates to the
of famous wares of the past were without exception worthy Sassanian period (AD 224-642), and is also in the collection
partners [of the originals]’. of the Iran Bastan Museum, Teheran (illustrated ibid., black
For most connoisseurs of Chinese ceramics, the so-called and white plate 101). This fask has fat encircling sides
moon-fasks are classic Chinese porcelain forms. However, forming a relatively sharp junction with the front and back
the form has a surprisingly long history in international art, circular panels, which are noticeably domed, similar to later
although it is possible that the Chinese early Ming dynasty metalwork examples, and also similar to the lower section of
form was inspired either by metalwork or glass of the 15th and 18th century fasks, such as the current vessel.
Islamic era, as argued by B. Gray in ‘The Infuence of Near Interestingly a similarly shaped fask - circular with sharp
Eastern Metalwork on Chinese Ceramics’, Transactions of angles to fat sides - was made in China during the Liao
the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 18, 1940-41, p. 57 and pl. dynasty (916-1125), and a green-glazed example - without
7F). However, one of the earliest fattened circular fasks handles, but with six loops spaced around the fat sides for
with handles joining the mouth of the vessel to the shoulder suspending the vessel from a saddle - was excavated from
on either side of the neck is the unglazed pottery fask a tomb in Inner Mongolia in 1965 (See Zhongguo wenwu
decorated with an octopus painted in dark brown, which jinghua daquan - Taoci juan 中國文物精華大全陶瓷卷, Taipei,
was found among the late Minoan artefacts at Palaikastro 1994, p. 164, no. 560). Unlike most early circular fasks this
on the island of Crete. The Minoan fask dates to about vessel stands on a rectangular foot similar to that on the
1500 BC, and thus was contemporary with the Shang later porcelain fasks, including the current Yongzheng
dynasty in China (illustrated by Spyridon Marinatos and moon-fask. A number of similarities can be seen between
Max Hirmer, Crete and Mycenae, New York, 1960, pl. 87). the Liao 10th-11th century vessel and both the fattened
One version of the Chinese ceramic moon-fask shape, which moon-fasks with upper bulb made in China in the Yongle
has no upper bulb, but simply a circular body with rounded and Xuande reigns, which inspired the current vessel - such
edges looks as though should have its origins in two bowls as the example from the Riesco Collection sold by Christie’s
being stuck together rim to rim, although in fact the early Hong Kong on 27 November 2013, lot 3111 - and the large,
Chinese form is luted horizontally, not vertically. The Minoan fat-backed Chinese porcelain fasks without a bulb upper
fask, however, appears to have been made in precisely the section, which were made in the early 15th century, with
former method. Examples of slightly later vessels are the loop handles on the sides of the vessel, one of which was
fattened circular fasks from Nineveh - in this case with their sold by Christie’s London on 6 November 2007, lot 156.
handles on the shoulders - dating to the Parthian period (150 A distinct foot can also be seen on a green glass fask in the

196 Other fees apply in addition to the hammer price – see Section D of our Conditions of Sale at the back of this Catalogue