A RARE PAIR OF BLUE AND WHITE ‘BAJIXIANG’ MOONFLASKS QIANLONG SEAL MARKS AND PERIOD

each of flattened form with gently domed sides rising from a spreading foot to a ribbed cylindrical neck, set with a pair of scroll handles, brilliantly painted in vivid tones of cobalt-blue with the ‘heaped and piled’ effect, the domed sides decorated with eight radiating lappet panels each enclosing the beribboned bajixiang around a raised central boss with a double vajra, all encircled by a keyfret band, the foot and neck with lingzhi scrolls and the narrow sides with meandering lotus, all below a keyfret border at the rim, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark

Both moonflasks lean slightly forward. One has a 3.5cm diagonal scratch to one face at 2 o'clock and further scratches to 3.30 and 4 o'clock to the same side. There is some slight scratches to the raised central boss are to the other side. The other has two small frits (approx. 0.2 x 0.1cm) to the curved edge of the moonflask near the shoulder, one to the front and the other to the back face. There is a 7cm horizontal glaze crack to the base of one side where it meets the foot, and 5cm to the other side. There are also some scratches to the glaze to the central boss of one side.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In their decoration these two impressive Qianlong mark and period moon flasks closely follow the motif found on the interior of an early fifteenth century basin, from the Avery Brundage collection in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, with eight petal panels radiating from a double vajra with each panel containing one of the eight auspicious Buddhist emblems (bajixiang). The Brundage basin was included in the exhibition Blue and White, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1985, cat. no. 28, where John Carswell mentions fourteenth century designs with auspicious objects in radiating lotus panels of varying numbers.  Interestingly, on early Ming dynasty wares, such as the covered bowl from the T.Y. Chao collection and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19^th May 1987, lot 231, the fish emblem follows the lotus emblem while the knot emblem follows the vase emblem in the order of the bajixiang. However, on Qing period wares, such as the present two flasks, the artist has reversed the order of the fish and the vase emblems, showing a degree of flexibility the Qing artisan enjoyed when copying earlier designs. The shape of these flasks is also based on Ming period vessels with a decorated convex side and a smooth flat unglazed back such as the piece, formerly sold in these rooms, 29^th October 1957, lot 166, and now in the Freer Art Gallery, Washington D.C., illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 94. Fifteenth century blue and white porcelain flasks, in turn, took their form from earlier, 13^th century, Mesopotamian bronze cooling vessels, such as the example from the Eumorfopoulos collection, sold in these rooms, 5^th June 1940, lot 72, and now also in the Freer Art Gallery. Interestingly, early metal flasks were also copied and made in silver during the Qianlong period; see a silver moon flask sold in these rooms, 11^thJune 1996, lot 139.

Similar Qianlong blue and white moon flasks may be found in a number of museums and private collections. For example, see one included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ch’ing Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum, vol. II, Tokyo, 1981, cat. no. 5; two published in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pls. 949 and 950, the latter unmarked ; one in the Nanjing Museum illustrated in Zhongguo lidai Jingdezhen ciqi, Beijing, 1998, p. 169; another, from the collection of Edward T. Chow, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19^th May 1981, lot 544; a further piece, from the collections of C.G. Sloan and Greenwald, was sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1^st December 2010, lot 2826; and one sold three times at auction, last in our Hong Kong rooms, 8^th April 2011, lot 3123.