AN EARLY MING BLUE AND WHITE DOUBLE GOURD MOON FLASK, BIANPING

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AN EARLY MING BLUE AND WHITE DOUBLE GOURD MOON FLASK, BIANPING
YONGLE

Following a Near Eastern prototype with flattened circular body and baluster-shaped neck, rising from a rectangular foot, painted in strong blue tones on both sides with an eight point star-burst radiating from a central yinyang symbol, the foliate points interspersed with palmette ornaments encircled by a diaper band, the neck with a narrow scroll of feathery pinks, the applied loop handles with ruyi-head terminals each painted with a camellia spray (rim chip restored, hairline cracks)--10 1/8in. (25.6cm.) high, box

Lot Essay

Cf. several published unmarked examples of this size illustrated in Underglaze Blue and Red, pl. 52, for an example in the Shanghai Museum; the Min Chiu Society Exhibition, An Anthology of Chinese Art, 1985, Catalogue, no. 148; Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, 1981, vol. 5, The British Museum, no. 164; and another in the Percival David Foundation by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, La Porcelaine Ming, pl. 35.

For a discussion of the origins of this form in the Near East, see Gray, 'The Influence of Near Eastern Metalwork on Chinese Ceramics', T.O.C.S., vol. 18, 1940-41, p. 57 and pl. 7F, for a Xuande-marked flask from the Hay and R.H.R. Palmer Collections sold in these Rooms, 17 January 1989, lot 566.

Previously sold in London, 6 April 1976, lot 112

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