Help identifying very old Chinese vase...

Hi Everyone. It’s been quite a while since I posted but everyone here was so helpful last time I had to give it a shot.

The vase pictured below is 19.5” tall, 13.5” wide and 4” deep. The artwork is deep blue, there seems to be a celadon glaze on everything but the center round portion. It features two crested birds on one side and a battle scene on the other. It has two water dragons as handles in a brown/tan color. The dragons have a three part fanned tail. Near as I can tell there are no markings anywhere on the piece, the top has a blue glazed Lion (broken piece of tail). It is very heavy.

Any and all help identifying information about the piece is greatly appreciated.

 

I'm not quarreling, just clarifying. What do you mean by very old? And how do you know/why do you believe it is? Quite an elaborate piece of business & great fun. Have seen moon vases, so maybe this would be a moon jar?

 

Ah, moon flask.

 

It is a family piece that has been in the family for more generations than we can trace back and we have been told, by family, that it is “ancient”.

 

I thought it might be. Were they typically so large? I know very little about it but this thing weighs at least 25 pounds maybe more.

 

Dont think the lid is original to the flask.

 

Does not look incongruous to me. What do you see that makes you think so?

 

I'm just tap dancing here, partly going on things I've learned from previous threads. It's certainly way too large to have ever been what we think of as a flask. A decorative piece in the form of a dragon handled moon flask. The color combo seems unusual, or it is among the results of a search for similar items. 'Bout all I can contribute. I like it.

 

I think you may be right about that. It came to us with the moon flask and even though the color matches nearly perfectly, the decoration in it doesn’t really match the vase/flask itself. And the crackle in the glaze is different.

 

@Lisa Duncanson - Might you provide a close-up image of this area, please?

 

Anyone know what's going on in this scene? My sense is that it is children playing at a battle game, or whacking at each other with party rattles, but nothing in the memory banks that provides a clue.



Maybe I'm reading what are really flat paddles as rounded little pumpkin shapes.

 

posted an up close pic for you

 

Okay I'll chime in - Quality of modelling, crackle not evident in vase, heavy potting

 

I think this vase was made for export, nice quality, IMO 1st quarter 20thc