A rare famille-rose'Peony' moonflask, Qing dynasty, 18th-19th century. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's
well potted with gently rounded sides, the flattened circular body rising from an unglazed footrim to a cylindrical neck flanked by a pair of ridged handles, painted in thick enamels with a central peony head on each side radiating leafy stems bearing further blossoms, the enamels incised to depict the veining in the leaves and petals - Height 12 1/4 in., 31.5 cm
Provenance: Collection of Sir Frederick Bruce, G.C.B., British Ambassador to China from 1860 to 1865.
Collection of Robert C. Bruce.
Sotheby's London, 12th May 1953, lot 141.
John Sparks Ltd., London.
Collection of W. A. Evill, London.
Sotheby's London 17th December 1980, lot 676.
Collection of a prominent Greek family.
Literature: Leigh Ashton and Basil Gray, Chinese Art, London, 1935, pl. 135.
Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain: The Ch'ing Dynasty (1644-1912), London, 1959, pl. XC, fig. 1.
Notes: This vessel vaunts an illustrious provenance. It is first known from the collection formed between 1860-1864 by Sir Frederick Bruce, G.C.B., as ambassador to China from 1860-1865. It then entered the collection of Robert C. Bruce and was sold in our London rooms in 1953.
In 1959, when the second edition of Soame Jenyns book was published, the vase was in the Collection of Wilfred Ariel Evill, a solicitor and head of the firm Evill and Coleman. Evill was an active client of Bluett. He passed away in 1963.
Another moonflask that traces its provenance to Sir Frederick Bruce was sold in these rooms, 16th and 17th September 2014, lot 157.
Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 15 Sep 2015, 02:00 PM