Page 20 - Christie's, Important Chinese Works of Art December 2, 2015 HK

fig. 2 Courtesy of the Huaihaitang Collection fig. 3
33 and 34. Such vessels, which have no foot and so would
have to lie flat or be suspended, probably take their inspiration
from metalwork vessels such as the Syrian brass canteen, dating
to the mid-13th century, in the collection of the Freer Gallery,
Washington, which is of very similar form (Illustrated on http://
www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/islamic/artofobject1b.htm).
Several flattened circular flasks, which were capable of standing, are These flasks laid the foundations for the impressive vessels
known amongst Yongle porcelain vessels decorated in underglaze
cobalt blue. One is the classic so-called ‘precious moon flask’
baoyueping, which has no additional foot, but has a flattened area
at the base of the vessel (see an example illustrated by Rosemary
Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration – Four Dynasties of
Jingdezhen Porcelain, Percival David Foundation, London, 1992,
p. 39, no. 26). Another Yongle variant of these flattened circular
flasks has a slightly bulbous neck and stands on a flared foot -
a circular version of the rectangular foot on which the current
flask stands. The foot of this type of Yongle flask probably has its
origins in glass rosewater sprinklers (qumqum) dating to the 12th-
13th centuries from Egypt or Syrian, such as the example in the
al-Sabah collection in the Kuwait National Museum, which was
reportedly found at Mharda in Syria. Interestingly both these
flask forms are revived amongst Yongzheng imperial porcelains, as
evidenced by Yongzheng blue and white flasks in the collection
of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 36, Blue and White
Porcelain with Undeglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 111-113,
nos. 97-99). However, neither of these latter two forms has a
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side strip, but underglaze blue decorated flattened double gourd
flasks from both the Yongle and Xuande reigns did have side strips
(see the flasks in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum 34 Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong
Kong, 2000, pp. 100-1, nos. 94-5).
produced at the imperial kilns in the Yongzheng reign. As a
number of the Yongzheng flasks are large in size, the potters
sensibly chose to adopt the form that had strip sides, which gave
them greater stability. A number of different versions of the form
are known amongst surviving Yongzheng flasks. Simple circular
forms with flared feet and paired handles rising on either side
from shoulder to neck can be seen in vessels such as the example
decorated in underglaze blue and copper red in the collection
of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng
Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong
Kong, 1989, p. 189, no. 18). Another version with bulbous mouth
is known - exemplified by the Yongzheng vessel with Guan-
type glaze in the Huaihaitang Collection (illustrated in Ethereal
Elegance - Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing - The Huaihaitang
Collection, Hong Kong, 2007, no. 31) (fig. 2). A further variant is a
quatrelobed flask, one of which, bearing a Ge-type glaze, was sold
by Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 November, 2014, lot 3274 (fig. 3).
Octagonal flasks, such as the current vessel, appear to be the rarest,
and combine the Yongzheng Emperor’s love of antiques with his
desire for auspicious references in their eight-sided profile.