A magnificent rare blue and white moonflask, bianhu
Qianlong seal mark and of the period
The smoothly rounded body superbly painted in bright underglaze blue with Ming-style 'heaping and piling' with elegantly-spaced floral scrolls variously composed of fully-blooming lotus, peony, chrysanthemum, hibiscus and other blossoms amid foliate scrolls issuing a single vine leaf on each side above the foot, all beneath a band of pendent ruyi-head at the base of the tapering neck painted with two fully blossoming lotus on foliate scrolls each flanked by elephant-head handles modelled with long curving trunks and lingzhi sprays in the mouths, beneath a band of lingzhi fungus scroll at the rim. 45.6cm (17¾in) high
Footnotes