flask BM-1975-1028.19

Period:Ming dynasty Production date:1426-1435
Materials:porcelain
Technique:glazed, painted, underglazed,
Subjects:flower lotus
Dimensions:Height: 51 centimetres (Flask) Height: 15 centimetres (stand) Width: 38 centimetres (Flask) Width: 37 centimetres (stand) Depth: 23 centimetres (Flask) Depth: 23.50 centimetres (stand)

Description:
Large porcelain flask painted with underglaze blue decoration. This large flask has a round body of oval section and a tubular neck which spreads at the base and the mouth. It stands on a low ovoid foot ring and has an unglazed slightly concave base. It is decorated around the neck with a continuous lingzhi scroll and around the body with a continuous stylized lotus scroll with flowers in full bloom and about to turn to seed. On each side the blooms grow from a single stalk. The rim is ornamented with a band of classic scroll. A six-character horizontal Xuande reign mark can be seen at the base of the neck on one side.
IMG


Comments:Harrison-Hall 2001:The shape is not a traditional Chinese one and may have evolved from Near Eastern metal work or glass, although there appears to be no exact parallel. A large flask of this form but with a composite flower scroll decoration is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. The form of the flask was already in use in the Yongle era. Flasks of this shape but with decoration of dragons reserved on waves, and also with composite flower scrolls, have been excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan, in the Yongle stratum.