A very rare blue and white 'floral' moon flask, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正　青花纏枝花卉紋卷雲耳抱月瓶　《大清雍正年製》款

Sotheby's London, 6th July 1976, lot 204 (buyer Robert Chang).

Offered at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 21st May 1980, lot 191.

Chūgoku meitō ten: Chūgoku tōji 2000-nen no seika [Exhibition of important Chinese ceramics: Essence of two thousand years of Chinese ceramics], Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, and six other locations in Japan, 1992, cat. no. 136.

The Leshantang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Taipei, 2005, pl. 28.

Moon flasks take their poetic name from their perfectly round bodies, which recall the glowing full moon seen in profile, but the present piece pushes the type in a more ambitious direction, one that is notoriously difficult to fire, with a very full bulging body rising from a narrow foot. That volume of clay sitting so top‑heavy makes such pieces prone to slump, lean or crack in the kiln, so perfectly balanced flasks of this pronounced, sculptural fullness are costly to produce, and while this demanding form was highly esteemed by emperors in its own time, the few examples that survive today are exceptionally rare and especially prized by connoisseurs.

In both shape and decoration, this moon flask deliberately looks back to celebrated early 15th‑century Ming masterpieces, particularly Yongle blue‑and‑white wares (for example, the Yongle flask in the Taipei Palace Museum, acc. no. guci-8844), but does so through an 18th‑century lens. The Yongzheng emperor, arguably the first true art‑lover among the Manchu rulers, actively brought Ming imperial wares out of the storerooms to be closely studied, prominently displayed, and sensitively reinterpreted by his craftsmen. Under his patronage, potters reimagined early Ming prototypes, refining the silhouette and even reviving much‑admired “imperfections” such as the mottled heaping‑and‑piling of early 15th‑century cobalt, creating works that honour the Ming past while speaking directly to Yongzheng’s own refined taste and elegance.

Only five other flasks of this rare type appear to have been published, all displaying very minor variations in proportion, or in the secondary motif on the neck, while sharing the same principal design on the body. The closest comparable, though considerably taller at 37.5 cm, is the example from the collections of R.F.A. Riesco and Ira and Nancy Koger, which has appeared several times at auction and most recently as the cover lot (and as lot 1019) of Christie’s New York, 19th September 2025. Most recorded examples are of similarly tall proportions, including a flask of 37 cm, decorated instead with a narrow floral band below the rim, from the collection of Gerald Reitlinger, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (acc. no. EA1978.1988). Two further examples, both with a register of scrolling lotus on the neck, have appeared at auction: one sold three times, most recently in these rooms on 8th October 2013, lot 3022, and illustrated in Sotheby’s Hong Kong. Twenty Years, 1973–1993, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 175; the other in our London rooms, 16th June 1998, lot 251 (possibly the same one sold in our London rooms, 17th December 1980, lot 645). The only published example of closely comparable size (28.4 cm) is preserved in the Beijing Palace Museum (acc. no. gu-149427), although its neck is more slender and encircled by a floral scroll.

Compare also two further related flasks of towering presence, but with a neck closer to the Yongle silhouette and fitted with dragon handles: the first from the collections of Dr Chang His-hai and Tianminlou, sold several times at auction and most recently at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th November 2023, lot 2711; and the second preserved in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in The Palace Museum’s Collection of Blue and White Porcelains from Yongzheng Period of Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 2017, pl. 125.​​

來源

倫敦蘇富比1976年7月6日，編號204（買家為張宗憲先生）

上拍於香港蘇富比1980年5月21日，編號191

展覽

《中国名陶展：中国陶磁2000年の精華》，日本橋高島屋，東京，以及其他六個日本縣市，1992年，編號136

出版

《樂山堂藏瓷》，台北，2005年，圖版20

「抱月瓶」之名，源於瓶身渾圓如滿月側影的詩意造型。然而眼前這件作品，卻將此一式樣推向更為大膽的極限：窄足之上，瓶腹極度飽滿膨脹，形成一種眾所周知極難燒成的器型。如此頭重腳輕的胎體，在窰火中極易坍塌、歪斜或開裂。因此，這類造型飽滿、比例完美且極具雕塑感的抱月瓶，燒造成本極為高昂。儘管這種高難度的器型在當時深受帝王珍視，但能完好流傳至今者鳳毛麟角，備受鑑藏家推崇。

無論器型或紋飾，這件抱月瓶皆有意識地回溯十五世紀初的明代典範，尤其是永樂青花，如台北故宮博物院藏永樂青花抱月瓶，館藏編號 guci-8844，但卻是透過十八世紀的審美視角進行重塑。雍正皇帝可謂滿清統治者中首位真正的藝術鑑賞家。他主動命人將明代御窰瓷器從庫房中取出，供工匠仔細研摹、陳設賞鑑，並進行細膩的再創作。在他的倡導下，御窰匠人對明初原型進行了重新詮釋：不僅精煉了器物線條，更有意復刻了十五世紀初青花钴料因堆積而形成的斑駁「瑕疵」效果，這種特質在當時被視為古意盎然的審美特徵。這些作品既致敬了明代傳統，亦鮮明地體現了雍正皇帝本人精緻典雅的藝術品味。

目前已知發表過的此類稀有抱月瓶僅五件。它們腹部主紋飾相同，僅在比例或頸部次要紋樣上略有差異。最為接近的一例（儘管高度達 37.5 公分，遠高於本品）來自瑞斯科（R.F.A. Riesco）及艾拉與南希·科格（Ira and Nancy Koger）舊藏。該瓶曾多次現身拍場，最近一次是紐約佳士得 2025 年 9 月 19 日，編號1019（封面）。多數記載的抱月瓶均屬此類高聳器型，包括一件高 37 公分、口沿下飾窄花帶而非頸部紋飾者，原為杰拉德·瑞特林格（Gerald Reitlinger）舊藏，現藏於牛津阿什莫林博物館（館藏編號EA1978.1988）。另有兩件頸部飾纏枝蓮紋者曾現身拍場：一件三度易手，最近一次為香港蘇富比 2013 年 10 月 8 日，編號3022，圖版亦見於《蘇富比香港二十週年（1973–1993）》，香港，1993 年，編號 175；另一件售於倫敦佳士得 1998 年 6 月 16 日，編號 251(可能與倫敦佳士得 1980 年 12 月 17 日第，編號645 為同一件）。唯一已知尺寸相近（高 28.4 公分）的發表例現藏於北京故宮博物院（館藏編號 gu-149427），但其頸部更為纖細，且飾有纏枝花卉紋。

亦可參照另外兩件體量碩大、氣勢恢宏的相關抱月瓶：其頸部線條更接近永樂原型，並配有龍形雙耳。第一件源自張星烺博士（Dr Chang His-hai）及天民樓舊藏。曾多次現身拍場，最近一次在香港佳士得 2023 年 11 月 30 日，編號 2711。第二件現藏北京故宮博物院，圖版見《故宮博物院藏清雍正青花瓷器》，北京，2017 年，圖版 125。