Lot Essay
No other blue and white moonflask with medallions containing dragons and phoenix appears to be recorded.
Compare with related Qianlong marked moonflasks decorated with dragon medallions, but lacking the phoenix, such as the example sold in our London Rooms, 16 December 1981, lot 36; another example sold in these Rooms, 2 May 1994, lot 658; and a smaller example also sold in these Rooms, 13 January 1987, lot 529.
The juxtaposition of dragon and phoenix representing the highest form of yin yang as well as the Emperor and his consort is a convention that began in the early 15th century during the Yongle reign. Cf. a lobed washer in the National Palace Museum illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty II (Part I), pl. 23 and 23a where the medallion is repeated on each lobe on the exterior. This motif conjoins the singular motifs found on other washers of this blue and white style of the same period; cf. ibid, pl. 24 and 24a painted with dragons only; a similar shaped Xuande-marked lobed washer painted with phoenix from the Sedgwick and E.T. Chow Collection sold in Hong Kong, 19 May 1981, lot 405.
Qing blue and white pieces largely derived their decorative language from the early Ming prototypes, cf. the numerous examples included in the Special Exhibition of Dragon-Motif Porcelain in The National Palace Museum, Catalogue, nos. 70, 71 and 73 which all derive from early Ming dragon types. A falangcai dragon and phoenix vase in the Shanghai Museum show a Qing interpretaion of a more archaic style design, cf. Zhongguo Meishu Jinghua Daquan, Ceramic Volume, no. 921.
Compare with related Qianlong marked moonflasks decorated with dragon medallions, but lacking the phoenix, such as the example sold in our London Rooms, 16 December 1981, lot 36; another example sold in these Rooms, 2 May 1994, lot 658; and a smaller example also sold in these Rooms, 13 January 1987, lot 529.
The juxtaposition of dragon and phoenix representing the highest form of yin yang as well as the Emperor and his consort is a convention that began in the early 15th century during the Yongle reign. Cf. a lobed washer in the National Palace Museum illustrated in Blue and White Ware of the Ming Dynasty II (Part I), pl. 23 and 23a where the medallion is repeated on each lobe on the exterior. This motif conjoins the singular motifs found on other washers of this blue and white style of the same period; cf. ibid, pl. 24 and 24a painted with dragons only; a similar shaped Xuande-marked lobed washer painted with phoenix from the Sedgwick and E.T. Chow Collection sold in Hong Kong, 19 May 1981, lot 405.
Qing blue and white pieces largely derived their decorative language from the early Ming prototypes, cf. the numerous examples included in the Special Exhibition of Dragon-Motif Porcelain in The National Palace Museum, Catalogue, nos. 70, 71 and 73 which all derive from early Ming dragon types. A falangcai dragon and phoenix vase in the Shanghai Museum show a Qing interpretaion of a more archaic style design, cf. Zhongguo Meishu Jinghua Daquan, Ceramic Volume, no. 921.