Featured Moon flask age Ming Yongle period

Hi, this moon flask has the yongle mark on neck. Not sure if the base is accurate for a 1400s piece but the body and arabesque design says so. Any opinions?

 

it's lovely !!

 

Other knowledgeable members here have explained that it is common for Chinese potters to included anachronistic marks on their wares, in homage to an older style that they are reproducing.

This 15th century moon flask was recently sold by Sotheby's in 2023 for a very high price. It was described as "extremely rare with only one known companion piece now held in the collection of The Palace Museum in Beijing." Their description says the vase has a "flat unglazed base centred with a well hollowed-out, glazed, globular recess".

https://en.thevalue.com/articles/so...les-chinese-works-of-art-2023-fall-highlights

https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/auc...d-exceptionally-rare-blue-and-white?locale=en

Note that there is no reign mark on the neck, and the handles are much more elegant than those on your vase.

Sotheby's does not include a view of the base of their vase, but from the description it might look something like this, on a similar vase sold at auction in 2021. No date was suggested for this vase.

https://www.andersauction.com/auction-lot/chinese-blue-white-moon-flask-porcelain-vase_F3B47F7AA7

It seems unlikely that your vase is a genuine 15th century piece. But to be sure, you would probably need to put it in the hands of an expert in early Chinese porcelain.

 

Welcome Katherine.
Your vase is lovely, but it isn't Yongle.

On Ming blue and white ceramics the glaze goes all the way down (I don't know how to explain this well). On your vase you see a small ring without glaze just above the base, that is a characteristic of later ceramics.
Ming dynasty decorations were always painted with great confidence. If you look at the motifs around the base on the Sotheby's vase, you see bold lines, painted with confidence. On your vase those motifs look much more 'demure', for lack of a better word.

This is the base on your vase, the glaze stops just above the flat part of the base, a ring of 'bare' clay can be seen even when it stands upright. Which means it isn't Ming dynasty.



Below is a detail of Sotheby's Yongle vase, the glaze goes all the way down:

 

Oooh. Nice tidbit of knowledge.

 

Interesting information, @Any Jewelry and @2manybooks .