Images(4)

Moon flask

Date15th century

Label TextIn the early 15th century, the volume of overseas trade was significant and Arabs were prominent in China, acting as interpreters for diplomats and traders, as well as overseeing observatories. This flask is evidence of the continuing dialogue between Middle Eastern and Chinese aesthetic traditions. Both the form and the interlaced floral medallion are Islamic in origin.

Object number48.167

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum, Chinese Ceramics, 1952. Portland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, Gift to a City: Masterworks from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the Seattle Art Museum, Nov. 3 - 28, 1965. Cat. no. 43. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Porcelain Stories: From China to Europe, Feb. 17 - May 7, 2000. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Glaze, Pattern and Image: Decoration in Chinese Ceramics, Sept. 7 - Nov. 19, 2002. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective, Dec. 22, 2007 - July 26, 2009. Tokyo, Japan, Suntory Museum of Art, Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum, July 25 - Sept. 6, 2009 (Kobe, Japan, Kobe City Museum, Sept. 19 - Dec. 6, 2009; Kofu, Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Dec. 23, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2010; Atami, Japan, MOA Museum of Art, Mar. 13 - May 9, 2010; Fukuoka, Japan, Fukuoka Art Museum, May 23 - July 19, 2010). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.Published ReferencesFinlay, Robert. "The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History". Berkeley, Los Angeles and London: University of California Press, 2010, illustrated pl. 13 Kawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 76 Emerson, Julie, Jennifer Chen, & Mimi Gardner Gates, "Porcelain Stories, From China to Europe", Seattle Art Museum, 2000, pg. 61 "Gift to a City" exhibition catalogue. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1965, cat. no. 43 "Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 75 (b&w). Foong, Ping, Xiaojin Wu, and Darielle Mason. "An Asian Art Museum Transformed." Orientations vol. 51, no. 3 (May/June 2020): p. 61, reproduced fig. 22 (installation view).

Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection

Dimensions11 1/2 x 8 1/8 x 4 1/8in. (29.2 x 20.6 x 10.5cm)

MediumPorcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration