Lot 227 , A pair of large Chinese turquoise ground famille rose moon flasks, Tongzhi seal mark and of the period (1862-74), 51cm high, Provenance

A pair of large Chinese turquoise ground famille rose moon flasks, Tongzhi seal mark and of the period (1862-74), each painted to circular reserves with dignitaries and attendants hunting a stag in a landscape, the reverse with pheasants and magpies amid peonies, rockwork and magnolia, within lotus flower scrolling leaf and shou motifs to the turquoise ground, chi-dragon gilt handles to the shoulder, 51cm high, Provenance - A. T. Arber-Cooke
Estimate £1,000-1,500

Both with some minor wear to the gilding. One of the moon flasks has been broken at the neck with some now slightly discoloured restoration around the area on the interior and exterior. The yellow discoloured restoration on the interior of the neck is also peeling off in places, the other vase is in good condition with no restoration chips or cracks.

Provenance - Alfred Theodore Arber-Cooke (c.1905-1993); thence by family descent. Arber-Cooke was an antiquarian and avid collector of Asian works of art, and antiquities principally collecting from the 1930s to the 1970s. He amassed a good reference library on Chinese & Asian coins and wrote on several occasions (1969-70) to to the academic F.A. Turk regarding the study of coin amulets and other non-currency coinages of China. A number of the Asian numismatic reference books will be offered in our 29th March sale.

Arber-Cooke initially lived in Wimbledon, Greater London and was involved with the Surrey Archaeological Society. He wrote the book 'Old Wimbledon', with a foreword the MP Sir Arthur Fell, published in 1927. He later moved to Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, Wales, again involved with local archaeology and wrote the History of Llandovery, published in 1975.



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Sold for £4,400