AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE CHINESE BLANC-DE-CHINE FLUTE. 17th Century. Of slightly tapering cylindrical form, crisply moulded at either end with key scroll bands, the body pierced with oval apertures each divided by three concentric bands, covered overall in a clear glaze, 53.5cm long. 十七世紀 德化窯笛子 In Chinese tradition there are three different types of flute, the di, chi, and the xiao. Of these the di or transverse flute (played horizontally rather than vertically), of which this is an example, is so rare that in PJ Donnelly’s Blanc de Chine: The Porcelain of Tuhua in Fukien in 1969 he notes that whilst the flute type exists, he was yet to find a Dehua example. Robert Blumenfield in his 2001 publication Blanc de Chine - The Great Porcelain of Dehua, identifies one such piece (pp 32-33) which sold in Christie’s London, 12 July 2005, lot 86.