Printed from Woolley & Wallis

Description

A FINE CHINESE BLUE AND WHITE MING-STYLE MOONFLASK, BAOYUEPING
QING DYNASTY

The ovoid body with a slender and slightly flared neck flanked by two scroll handles formed as ruyi heads. The two sides painted in cobalt blue with different compositions each of a single bird, one perched on a prunus spray, the other upright on a flowering fruit-tree branch, both with leafy bamboo sprays which are repeated on the neck, each scene bordered above and below with curling leaf motifs, the base unglazed, 28cm.

From the collection of Captain Edward Watkins Whittington-Ince CBE, RN (1886-1976). Edward Watkins Whittington-Ince joined the Royal Navy in 1904. In the years following the war he served on a number of ships, and between 1925 and 1927 was Commander-in-Chief of the East Indies, where it is possible he acquired the moonflask. He received his CBE in 1943 and retired from the Navy three years later, living in Devon until his death in 1976.

While the moonflask shape is originally derived from Syrian glass, this particular vase is copied directly from a Yongle original (apparently unique), now in the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum and illustrated on the front cover of Rosemary E Scott's Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration. Similar 18th century examples are known, including one from the Edward T Chow collection, now in the Princessehof Museum in Leeuwarden. Another was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong from the Meiyintang Collection on 7th April 2011, lot 76.

清 青花喜上眉梢紋抱月瓶
來源：Edward Watkins Whittington-Ince CBE, RN (1886-1976)船長收藏。Edward於1904年加入英國皇家海軍，在戰後的數年間曾在多艘艦艇上服役，並於1925年至1927年間擔任東印度艦隊總司令，他可能是在此期間獲得了此抱月瓶。1943年，他被授予CBE勳章，並於三年後自海軍退役，之後居住於德文郡，直至1976年去世。