A BLUE AND WHITE MING-STYLE ‘LINGZHI’ MOONFLASK, BIANHU, QING DYNASTY China, 18^th-19^th century. Finely potted after Ming dynasty prototypes, the flattened globular body surmounted by a slender tubular neck flanked by a pair of cloud-shaped handles, painted on each side in fifteenth century style with a flowering, leafy branch bearing five lychee above a band of froth-capped waves encircling the slightly concave and unglazed oval base, the slender neck rising from a band of scrolls and painted with a band of upright leaf tips.

Provenance: French private collection. Acquired from the inventory of the Chateau de Paradis - see pictures where the Bianhu is stilll in place in the collection.
Condition: Excellent condition with minor wear and firing flaws, such as pitting, dark spots, and firing cracks, as well as some minor glaze lines to the body and neck.

Weight: 1,941 g
Dimensions: Height 28.2 cm

The design of the lychee branch follows that of a well-known Yongle prototype. Many Qing-dynasty flasks were consciously inspired by early Ming patterns, some adhering closely to the original while others revised the designs to suit Qing-dynasty tastes, the present bianhu belonging to the latter category, clearly taking advantage of the abundance of cobalt blue in those days.

Literature comparison: Early Ming moonflasks of this type have been widely published. Compare the Yongle example in the British Museum, from the Oppenheim Collection, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, no. 161; one illustrated by Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1954, pl. 30a, originally from the Clark Collection and illustrated again in Masterpieces of Old Chinese Ceramics from the Ataka Collection, Tokyo, 1975, col. pl. 76; and another in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, illustrated in Selected Masterpieces of Ceramics, Matsuoka Museum of Art, Japan, 1984, pl. 50, Japan, 19.

Auction result comparison: Compare a closely related moonflask, dated to the Yongzheng period, of very similar design and related size, at Christie’s New York in Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art on 20 September 2005, lot 343, sold for USD 553,600.