A RARE BLUE AND WHITE ‘DRAGON’ MOONFLASK QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

the flattened globular body rising from a short oval foot to a slender waisted neck, flanked by a pair of chilong handles, the front and back face painted with vivid shades of cobalt-blue depicting a five-clawed dragon and a smaller attendant dragon leaping from turbulent cresting waves, the dragons detailed with ferocious faces and scaly bodies, writhing amongst stylised clouds and flame wisps with bats in flight, all below a band of pendent ruyi heads, the base originally with a six-character seal mark which has since been erased

An English Private Collection.

The base covered with a type of brown paint, rubbed off in places to reveal the biscuit body, suggesting that the mark had been erased and the biscuit body later painted brown. The oval base also with two, possibly associated, body cracks cutting across the narrow sides measuring approximately 40mm and 30mm to exterior. Otherwise in excellent general condition, with minor surface scratching. The circular mouth not quite evenly or symetrically potted.
"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 the quest to justify their right to the throne of China as a foreign dynasty, the Manchu emperors of the Qing dynasty often commissioned works of art to reflect their power and beneficence. In both its shape and decoration the present flask immediately references great works of art of the past, with the dragon yielding an impressive evocation of imperial grandeur. As emblem of the Emperor’s majestic and benevolent rule, the dragon had a long tradition in China; however probably no other ruler made such calculated propagandistic use of it as the Qianlong emperor. Dragons adorned every room of the Qing palace and the image of the five-clawed dragon can be considered the ultimate reflection of the Qianlong emperor’s imperial splendour. Moonflasks of this type are very rare although a companion piece with a Qianlong seal mark and of the period was sold in our Paris rooms, 18^th December 2008, lot 68.

 

The form of the present piece is unusual for its high shoulders, and appears to have derived from moonflasks of the early Ming reigns of Yongle (1403-24) and Xuande (1426-35), the greatest period for the production of blue and white porcelain. Dragons rarely appeared on moonflasks before the Qianlong reign although a small number of examples exist from the early Ming period; see an example from the collections of Edward T. Chow and T.Y. Chao, included in the exhibition Zhongguo ming tao Riben xunhui zhan [Exhibition of famous Chinese ceramics touring Japan], National Museum of History, Taipei, 1992, pp 118-121, illustrated on the slip case and again in Sotheby’s: Thirty Years in Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2003, pl. 205.

 

While moonflasks decorated with front-facing dragons are well-known, examples painted with side-facing dragons as rendered on this piece are rare and are directly inspired by early-Ming designs. The composition of a dragon leaping from the crashing waves and surrounded by swirling clouds remains the same; however the Qing craftsman has adapted the design to suit the Qianlong emperor’s taste for the ornate by including an additional dragon and a complex array of clouds and bats. For the Ming prototype, see one attributed to the Yongle period, from the Edward T. Chow and T.Y. Chao collections, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 18^th November 1986, lot 34, and illustrated in Michel Beurdeley, La Ceramique Chinoise, Fribourg, 1974, col. pl. 56, and in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1955, pl. 74; and another sold in these rooms, 13^th June 1989, lot 210. The porcelain painters of the 18^th century were so enamoured with the appearance of early 15^th-century blue and white that they developed a special painting manner to imitate the accidental imperfections of their models, namely by recreating the so-called ‘heaped and piled’ effect of darker spots of cobalt blue through deliberate uneven dotting.

 

A similar design to the present piece is found on a moonflask of more ovoid form, sold at Christie’s New York, 26^th March 2003, lot 263; and a covered vase in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, is published in Blue and White Ware of the Ch’ing Dynasty, bk. II, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 20.