Highly unusual for its rectangular form, this flask is a fine example of the technical expertise achieved during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor. Its angular shape together with the symmetrical design, suggests it may have been inspired by metalware, which were cast and enamelled rather than formed on a potter’s wheel. Although designs of dragons are well-known, no other vessel of this form appears to have been published.

While moonflasks decorated with front-facing dragons are well-known, those painted with side-facing dragons are rare and directly inspired by early-Ming designs. It is particularly rare to find two facing dragons. For a moonflask decorated with one side-facing dragon above crashing waves, see one sold in our London rooms, 6th November 2013, lot 16; another sold in our Paris rooms, 18th December 2008, lot 68; and a third sold at Christie’s New York, 26th March 2003, lot 263. 

For the Ming prototype to the side-facing dragon design, see one attributed to the Yongle period, from the Edward T. Chow and T.Y. Chao Collections, sold in these rooms, 18th November 1986, lot 34, and illustrated in Michel Beurdeley, La Ceramique Chinoise, Fribourg, 1974, col. pl. 56, and in Sekai toji zenshu [Ceramic Art of the World], vol. 11, Tokyo, 1955, pl. 74. Furthermore, the porcelain painters of the 18th century were so enamoured with the appearance of 15th century blue and white that they developed a special painting manner to imitate the accidental imperfections of their models, namely by recreating the so-called ‘heaped and piled’ effect of darker spots of cobalt blue through deliberate uneven dotting as displayed on this vase.

Sotheby's, Important Chinese Art, Hong Kong, 05 oct. 2016