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Lot Essay
The scenes on the flask are derived from the woodblock prints in Yuzhi Gengzhi Tu, 'Imperial Illustrations of Tilling and Weaving'. These illustrations were designed by Jiao Bingzhen to accompany a series of poems composed by the Kangxi Emperor on tilling and weaving, and published around 1697.
Two other blue and white Qianlong-marked examples, but with bat handles flanking the neck, were sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1 November 2004, lot 902, and in our London rooms, 17 June 2003, lot 57. A closely related flask painted with the same decoration in underglaze blue but with additional colored details, is illustrated in China: Eine Wiege der Weltkultur - 5000 Jahre Erfindungen und Entdeckungen, Mainz, 1994, no. 27. Another example of slightly smaller proportions decorated in doucai in the Tianjin Museum is illustrated in Tianjinshi yishu bowuguan zangci, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 176.
Two other blue and white Qianlong-marked examples, but with bat handles flanking the neck, were sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 1 November 2004, lot 902, and in our London rooms, 17 June 2003, lot 57. A closely related flask painted with the same decoration in underglaze blue but with additional colored details, is illustrated in China: Eine Wiege der Weltkultur - 5000 Jahre Erfindungen und Entdeckungen, Mainz, 1994, no. 27. Another example of slightly smaller proportions decorated in doucai in the Tianjin Museum is illustrated in Tianjinshi yishu bowuguan zangci, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 176.