YONGZHENG PERIOD (1723-1735)

Details

A GUAN-TYPE GLAZED DOUBLE-HANDLED MOONFLASK
YONGZHENG PERIOD (1723-1735)
12 ¼ in. (31.3 cm.) high

Provenance

Collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark (1891-1976)
Sold at Sotheby’s London, 25 March 1975, lot 107
Collection of Sakamoto Gorō (Su Lin An)
Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, Important Chinese Ceramics and Jades from the Su Lin An Collection, 31 October 1995, lot 326
Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 10 April 2006, lot 1620

Literature

Chinese Ceramics from the Dawentang Collection, Vol. II, Hong Kong, 2019, pp.454-457, no. 81
Treasures from Japan, Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics from Yamanaka & Co., Ltd. and other Japanese Collections, Beijing, 2020, pp.202-203, no.79
Regina Krahl, Arts of Asia, Hong Kong, July-August 2020, p.127, fig. 7

Exhibited

Musee de I’Orangerie, Arts de la Chine Ancienne, Paris, 1937, cat. no. 495
Exhibition of Chinese Art for Chinese Medical Relief, London, 1938
Oriental Ceramic Society, Jun and Kuan Wares, London, 1952, cat. no. 38
The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, Art & Imitation in China, Hong Kong, 14 October – 17 December 2006, cat. no. 77
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Honouring Tradition and Heritage: Min Chiu Society at Sixty, Hong Kong, 18 December 2020 – 28 April 2021, cat. no. 129

Conditions of sale

Lot Essay

Of globular form with characteristic flattened sides, the body is covered with an even guan-type bluish-grey glaze, suffused with a sparse brown crackle around the neck and on one side. The cylindrical neck is flanked by a pair of arched handles.

Yongzheng moonflasks appear in various glazes imitating Song dynasty wares. Both Nian Xiyao and Tang Ying, commissioned by the Yongzheng Emperor, developed new monochrome colours, including archaistic crackled glazes. Compare to a similar guan-type moonflask from the Huaihaitang Collection, illustrated in Ethereal Elegance – Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing, Hong Kong, 2007, no.31; a ge-type ‘eight trigrams’ moonflask from the National Palace Museum, Taipei, collection number: zhongci 0034964; and a larger Ru-type example was sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 May 2025, lot 3620.

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