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Blue-and-White Moon Flask with Magpies and Plum Blossoms

A magpie alights upon a flowering plum branch, its auspicious message conveyed through the delicate art of underglaze-blue painting. This petite Yongzheng-period moon flask embodies the traditional auspicious motif xishang meishao (“joy reaching the tips of the plum branches”), symbolising the imminent arrival of happiness and good fortune. Its compact, elegantly proportioned form lends the vessel a particularly refined charm, while its restrained decoration encapsulates the poetic sensibility and understated elegance of traditional Chinese aesthetics.

Artifact Details

Measurements
Vase
H 11.7cmMD 1.8cmFD 5.5x3.1cm
Kiln
Imperial Kiln
Material
underglaze blue decoration
Condition
Excellent

This petite Qing-dynasty moon flask, dating to the Yongzheng period, is decorated in underglaze blue with the auspicious motif of magpies among plum blossoms, known as xishang meishao (“joy upon the plum branches”). It features a straight neck flanked by a pair of elegantly moulded ruyi-shaped handles, above a flattened, circular body of compact and graceful proportions.

The body is painted with flowering plum branches extending in graceful, sweeping lines, their blossoms distributed in a natural and delicately balanced arrangement. Magpies perch among the branches, completing a composition of considerable charm and poetic refinement. The cobalt-blue pigment displays a clear, harmonious tone, while the finely controlled brushwork lends precision and fluidity to the decorative details.

Characteristic of the refined decorative wares of the Yongzheng period, this small moon flask was ideally suited to an elegant scholar's studio or interior setting. The combination of magpies and plum blossoms conveys auspicious wishes for joyful tidings, the arrival of spring, and enduring good fortune.

The magpies are rendered with lively, animated expressions, while the plum branches are depicted with slender, vigorous strokes. The blossoms are arranged in a carefully balanced rhythm of clustered and dispersed forms, creating a composition distinguished by restraint, simplicity, and understated elegance. This is a classic Qing-dynasty interpretation of the auspicious motif xishang meishao (“joy upon the plum branches”).

In traditional Chinese symbolism, the magpie (xi que) represents happiness and joyful tidings, while meishao (the tips of the plum branches) echoes meishao (the brow) through a play on words. Together, the imagery conveys the auspicious wish that happiness and good fortune are imminent, with joyful occasions soon to come.

The base bears the six-character reign mark “大清雍正年制” (Da Qing Yongzheng Nian Zhi), written in underglaze blue regular script (kaishu) within a double-bordered square cartouche, arranged in two vertical columns. The characters are executed in a neat, measured, and dignified hand, with the cobalt pigment displaying a rich yet subdued tone. This is a characteristic regular-script reign-mark format of Yongzheng-period imperial porcelain, identifying the vessel with the reign of the Yongzheng Emperor. The glaze covering the base is soft and lustrous, while the circular foot is carefully and evenly finished.

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