Blue and White prunus blossom moon flask

[Stan]

Hi Peter, the decoration and blue color looks like Kangxi to me, but I could not find a moon flask from the Kangxi period, it has a 4 character kangxi mark on the bottom, the vase is 30.4 cm tall and the blue color is a little lighter in color that what the photo's show, I am charging the batteries in my camera, I find that the colors get distorted when the batteries are low, please let me know what you think, thanks for all your expertise.

[Stan]

Here are more photo's to view.

[Stan]

These are the last 3 photo's to view, thanks again for all your help.

[peterp]

I can not tell for sure whether it is Kangxi or later.

Pros: The glaze edge on the inside of the foot rim looks as if it was 18th century.
        The plum blossoms are painted in Kangxi style.
Cons: This is what some call night prunus (meaning the background is the night sky, I suppose)
          This  background was normal in the Kangxi revival period (Guangxu reign)
The Kangxi prunus decoration is often called ice prunus in Chinese. That is because the background showslight colored straight lines, presumably depicting ice.

Kangxi four character marks from private kilns are exceedingly few in the Kangxi reign, they were used mostly in the Guangxu reign. But my mark book shows one or two.  That means it is possible, but the likelihood that this is of the period is relatively low.

I do not think the blue is specifically Kangxi. Late Qing blues also do have this blue. There is a much wider range of blue tones in the 19th century.

It will be necessary to check that glaze line along the foot rim and the background without the "ice"lines. If they both did exist during the Kangxi reign, then you may have a period item.
Either way, an undamaged, antique moon flask like this is a very good find.

[Stan]

Thanks Peter, I did compare the decoration on this moon flask to a ginger jar on Christies that showed one like mine with the same  night prunus decoration, I do have several late Qing prunus ginger jars none of them looked like this, the blue on my late Qing items are darker and have deeper cobalt blue, thanks again Peter, I will try to get it appraised.

[bokaba]

Hi Stan,

I was able to find this moon flash, which looks very similar to yours. Yours appears to have slightly tighter artwork and is in better condition I think. This is only dated "Qing Dynasty," but similar pieces appear to be dated late 19th Century in line with Peter's belief that it is Kangxi revival.

www.liveauctioneers.com/item/29540893_antique-chinese-blue-white-porcelain-moon-flask-vase

Bokaba

[Stan]

Hi Bokaba, you can not trust all auctions especially the lower end ones, they just do not have the knowledge needed to rightly discern age for all Chinese Porcelain, but this is a very close example of mine I wish I could have bought it for $170.00.

[bokaba]

Hi Stan,

I agree that most auction houses don't know much about Asian art or say that everything is much older than it really is. Here is a period Kangxi jar with a similar prunus pattern from both Christie's and one from one of my books from the NY Metropolitan Museum dated late 17/early 18th Century. It looks like the background underglaze blue was applied with some type of broad brush.

www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/two-chinese-blue-and-white-ginger-jars-5341346-details.aspx

Bokaba

[peterp]

You should not solely rely on information from auction sales, top auction houses or not. Even their expert are just not specialized on every type of porcelain.  people are too decoration-oriented, but decorations are easily copied. Auction houses are doing their work to make money, and even the big three might occasionally pass something as genuine, if they think they can sell it. I have heard a Chinese museum researcher say more than once in a roadshow type antique program, that a specific piece would be passed as authentic by the major auction houses in the west. Always keep a critical mind and always analyze all the details too, not just the decoration. If it were so easy, we could just keep comparing items with pictures, etc. to decide if something is right or wrong...

[Stan]

Thanks Bokaba, and Peter, I will let you know as soon as I have it appraised.

[peterp]

As I said, I do no know if variations of this existed in the Kangxi reign. If the black and white picture is  the museum item, there is one vote for its existence. That is because this jar has a typical early Qing shape. And that is probably the main reason it is considered as Kangxi. The rounding of the jar sides are different from the early to the late Qing dynasty. This is always a major consideration with ginger jars. But I still would like to have a look at the bottom, and the neck.

[bokaba]

Hi Peter,

Yes, the black and white image is from a 1975 publication from the NY Metropolitan Museum of Art. They say it was donated to the museum in 1913. I was also able to find another example from the Franks Collection at the British Museum. This jar was donated to the museum by Augustus Franks who was curator from the 1880s to 1890s.

www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=230827&partId=1&searchText=kangxi+jar&page=1

Bokaba

[peterp]

Does the black and white picture show ice cracks? The last one you posted sure shows them clearly when enlarged - typical Kangxi.
The knob on the lid is not standard, though. These ginger jar lids were made without any knobs.

[bokaba]

Hi Peter,

Here is the link to the Met for the larger image. I believe this is the same jar as the BW photo I posted. It does show the ice cracks prominently.

www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/45970

Here is another jar they have dated as Kangzi without the lid, so you can see the neck up close.

www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/46774

Do you think the knob on the British Museum example was possibly added in Europe? The white and blue underglazes is not the same color as the rest of the jar.

[peterp]

Could be, it is just not original. Yeah, these jars all are typically Kangxi in shape and decoration.