PLEASE NOTE THIS IS A PREMIUM LOT AND THERE WILL NOT BE ONLINE BIDDING.

A MASSIVE CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE 'DRAGON' MOONFLASK

QIANLONG 1736-95

Painted to each side with a large confronting dragon writhing amidst swirling clouds and stylised flames, with a further small dragon emerging from crashing waves below, the mythical beasts surrounded by many flying bats, the short neck decorated with beribboned precious objects and flanked by two handles terminating in moulded ruyi-heads, with bands enclosing further bats and wispy clouds encircling the garlic-head mouth and flared foot, 48.3cm.

Provenance: from an English private collection, Suffolk, since the 1940s, and thence by descent.

The image of an old and young dragon together forms the saying cang long jiao zi, which means 'an old dragon teaching its young.' This motif expresses the wish that an official position will be passed down through the generations from father to son. In addition to ceramic decoration, the imagery is frequently found on Ming and Qing dynasty belthooks, where the old dragon forms the hook whilst the young dragon stands on the shaft facing him.

Cf. The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, p.278, no.254 for a comparable moonflask with a similar design in doucai.