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Lot Essay
While many enamelled porcelain vessels with deep rouge pink as a background colour are known, there are very few with the delicate pale pink ground seen on the current moonflask. A late Kangxi bowl in the National Palace Museum has turquoise panels reserved against a pale pink ground, and is illustrated in Special Exhibition of Ch'ing Dynasty Enamelled Porcelains of the Imperial Ateliers, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1992, p. 42, no. 6. Another Kangxi yuzhi bowl with pale pink ground was exhibited in Hong Kong in Selected Treasures of Chinese Art - Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Min Chiu Society, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 344-5, no. 157. A Qianlong bowl with a design of scrolling flowers against an incised pale pink ground, with incised scrolling decoration like that on the present example, is also in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum, Fine-Enamelled Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty - Ch'ien-lung Period, II, Cafa, Hong Kong, 1967, pp. 112-3, no. 35. A Qianlong teapot with pale pink scrolling ground surrounding panels containing delicately painted flowers and rocks is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, see Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Forbidden City Publishing, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 365, no. 46. The teapot, however, has the scrolls on the pink ground painted in a slightly darker enamel, rather than being incised into the pink enamel as on the current flask.
The decorative combination of peonies and magnolia and peach blossom seen on this flask has been found on a number of fine 18th century enamelled porcelains. A large Yongzheng dish from the Qing Court Collection is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, cf. Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, vol. 39, p. 67, no. 57. A combination of peonies, lotus and peach blossom adorns the circular panels on either side of a Yongzheng moonflask decorated in doucai technique in the collection of Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci mingqi zhan, Shanghai bowuguan suozang, 1995, p. 87, no. 72. A comparable doucai moonflask bearing a Qianlong mark is in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, see Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 38, Commerical Press, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 265, no. 243. Unlike the current flask, however, these two doucai examples have cylindrical necks. A pair of Qianlong moonflasks with archaistic dragon handles in the Matsuoka Museum of Art has a design of peonies and magnolia, somewhat reminiscent of the design on the current flask, on one side and an inscription on the other. The Matsuoka flasks, which are slightly larger than the current vessel, do not have bulb necks and have a dark ruby ground surrounding the reserved circular panels, see Masterpieces of Oriental Ceramics from Matsuoka Museum of Art, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, 1997, p. 44 no. 35.
Flattened porcelain flasks with compressed bulb mouths and strap handles appear among Chinese porcelains of the early 15th century. An early 15th century blue and white example with Islamic inspired lattice decoration is in the collection of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, see R. Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration, Percival David Foundation, London, 1992, p. 39, no. 26; while another is in the Palace Museum, Beijing. The form was revived in the 18th century, and in the case of a Yongzheng blue and white example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the same lattice decoration was applied (see Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, III, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commerical Press, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 113, no. 99). In other cases, like the underglaze red Qianlong flask in the Baur Collection, they were decorated with an adaptation of the early design, cf. J. Ayers, The Baur Collection, 1974, vol. 4, no. A535. On the current flask, however, a delicately enamelled, typically Qing, design has been applied in a manner that perfectly complements the form.
The decorative combination of peonies and magnolia and peach blossom seen on this flask has been found on a number of fine 18th century enamelled porcelains. A large Yongzheng dish from the Qing Court Collection is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, cf. Porcelains with Cloisonne Enamel Decoration and Famille Rose Decoration, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1999, vol. 39, p. 67, no. 57. A combination of peonies, lotus and peach blossom adorns the circular panels on either side of a Yongzheng moonflask decorated in doucai technique in the collection of Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci mingqi zhan, Shanghai bowuguan suozang, 1995, p. 87, no. 72. A comparable doucai moonflask bearing a Qianlong mark is in the Palace Museum collection, Beijing, see Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 38, Commerical Press, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 265, no. 243. Unlike the current flask, however, these two doucai examples have cylindrical necks. A pair of Qianlong moonflasks with archaistic dragon handles in the Matsuoka Museum of Art has a design of peonies and magnolia, somewhat reminiscent of the design on the current flask, on one side and an inscription on the other. The Matsuoka flasks, which are slightly larger than the current vessel, do not have bulb necks and have a dark ruby ground surrounding the reserved circular panels, see Masterpieces of Oriental Ceramics from Matsuoka Museum of Art, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, 1997, p. 44 no. 35.
Flattened porcelain flasks with compressed bulb mouths and strap handles appear among Chinese porcelains of the early 15th century. An early 15th century blue and white example with Islamic inspired lattice decoration is in the collection of the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, see R. Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration, Percival David Foundation, London, 1992, p. 39, no. 26; while another is in the Palace Museum, Beijing. The form was revived in the 18th century, and in the case of a Yongzheng blue and white example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the same lattice decoration was applied (see Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red, III, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Commerical Press, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 113, no. 99). In other cases, like the underglaze red Qianlong flask in the Baur Collection, they were decorated with an adaptation of the early design, cf. J. Ayers, The Baur Collection, 1974, vol. 4, no. A535. On the current flask, however, a delicately enamelled, typically Qing, design has been applied in a manner that perfectly complements the form.