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Lot Essay
The present moonflask is one of the finest and most iconic pieces of porcelain from the Qianlong period. Measuring just over 50 cm. high, it is one of the largest moonflasks of that period and possibly one of the only two doucai examples decorated with two dragons to each face.
The closest comparable example to the present moonflask is a doucai moonflask (49.5 cm. high) with a slightly different composition in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 278, no. 254 (fig. 1), where the young dragon, of a smaller size, is shown half-submerged in the waves. Compare also with a similar doucai moonflaskbut of much smaller size (24.3 cm. high) depicting a pair of dragons confronted on a flaming pearl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see ibid., no. 241.
Other Qianlong doucai moonflasks of similar size but depicting single dragons include a pair included in the exhibition 100 Masterpieces of Imperial Chinese Ceramics from the Au Bak Ling Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1998, and illustrated in The Asian Art Newspaper, November 1998, p. 12, and one sold at Christie’s New York, 21 September 2004, lot 331. The single-dragon design is also found on blue and white moonflasks , such as the example in the Matsuoka Art Museum, Tokyo, illustrated by J. Ayers and M. Sato (eds.), Sekai toji zenshu - 15 - Qing, Tokyo, 1983, p. 150, no. 152, where the parent dragon is painted with head turned in three-quarter view, and which is most probably the pair to another moonflask painted in mirror-image from the collection of Mrs. E. Wright, sold at Christie’s London, 16 December 1981, lot 36 (fig. 2), and one with a front-facing dragon, sold at Sotheby’s London, 7 November 2007, lot 407.
Qianlong moonflasks of this size are more commonly found in blue and white, see an example in the Matsuoka Art Museum, Tokyo, illustrated by J. Ayers and M. Sato (eds.), Sekai toji zenshu - 15 - Qing, Tokyo, 1983, p. 150, no. 152, where the parent dragon is painted with head turned in three-quarter view, and which is most probably the pair to another moonflask painted in mirror-image from the collection of Mrs. E. Wright, sold at Christie’s London, 16 December 1981, lot 36.
The closest comparable example to the present moonflask is a doucai moonflask (49.5 cm. high) with a slightly different composition in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 278, no. 254 (fig. 1), where the young dragon, of a smaller size, is shown half-submerged in the waves. Compare also with a similar doucai moonflaskbut of much smaller size (24.3 cm. high) depicting a pair of dragons confronted on a flaming pearl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see ibid., no. 241.
Other Qianlong doucai moonflasks of similar size but depicting single dragons include a pair included in the exhibition 100 Masterpieces of Imperial Chinese Ceramics from the Au Bak Ling Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1998, and illustrated in The Asian Art Newspaper, November 1998, p. 12, and one sold at Christie’s New York, 21 September 2004, lot 331. The single-dragon design is also found on blue and white moonflasks , such as the example in the Matsuoka Art Museum, Tokyo, illustrated by J. Ayers and M. Sato (eds.), Sekai toji zenshu - 15 - Qing, Tokyo, 1983, p. 150, no. 152, where the parent dragon is painted with head turned in three-quarter view, and which is most probably the pair to another moonflask painted in mirror-image from the collection of Mrs. E. Wright, sold at Christie’s London, 16 December 1981, lot 36 (fig. 2), and one with a front-facing dragon, sold at Sotheby’s London, 7 November 2007, lot 407.
Qianlong moonflasks of this size are more commonly found in blue and white, see an example in the Matsuoka Art Museum, Tokyo, illustrated by J. Ayers and M. Sato (eds.), Sekai toji zenshu - 15 - Qing, Tokyo, 1983, p. 150, no. 152, where the parent dragon is painted with head turned in three-quarter view, and which is most probably the pair to another moonflask painted in mirror-image from the collection of Mrs. E. Wright, sold at Christie’s London, 16 December 1981, lot 36.