18TH CENTURY

Details

A FINE AND RARE MING-STYLE BLUE AND WHITE GARLIC-HEADED MOONFLASK
18TH CENTURY
The flattened circular body painted in fifteenth-century style on one side with a leafy branch laden with seven ripe pomegranates, the other side with a leafy branch bearing twelve plump lychee, both branches situated above a sprig of lingzhi, the waisted neck painted with a band of petals above a band of trefoils, either side of the cupped mouth painted with a foliate spray, with similar foliate sprays repeated on the pair of handles and the narrow sides, all supported on a rectangular base with petal band
13 3/8 in. (33.9 cm.) high, wood stand, box

Provenance

Purchased at auction in London in the 1970s.

Lot Essay

The form of the current moonflask is based on early Ming dynasty prototypes. For two fifteenth century examples, see the garlic-headed moonflasks in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Blue-and-White Ware of the Ming Dynasty, Book II, Part 1, Hong Kong, 1963, pp. 38-41, pls. 9-10c.

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