Lot 463. A large Ming-style blue and white moonflask, Qianlong seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 19 3/8 in. (49.2 cm.) high. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 40,000. Price Realized: USD 80,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2008.

The slightly domed sides well painted with eight petal-shaped panels containing thebajixiang within a key-fret border, encircling a domed circular center with central stylized floral medallion within similar key-fret border, the narrow sides painted with a band of stylized lotus scroll, all below a tall cylindrical neck painted with scrolling lingzhi below a bow-string band and a further border of key fret.

Note: The shape of these large Qianlong flasks is based on Ming dynasty fifteenth century prototypes, which had a convex side that was decorated and a flat unglazed back with a countersunk medallion in the center. For a Yongle (1403-25) example, see the flask in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, vol. 9, 1981, no. 94. These fifteenth century blue and white porcelain flasks were themselves based on silver-inlaid brass prototypes.

Similar large moon flasks are illustrated in Zhongguo Li Dai Jingdezhen Ci Qi - Qing Juan, Beijing, 1998, p. 169, from the Nanjing Museum; by M. Beurdeley and G. Raindre, Qing Porcelain, London, 1987, pl. 154, formerly in the Edward Chow Collection; in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983, pl. 150, col. pl. 151; and in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum, Blue and White Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, Book II, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 15. See, also, the example sold in these rooms, 22 March 2007, lot 339.  

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 17 September 2008. New York, Rockefeller Plaza