Presented on a modern plexi stand.

This type of vertical end-blown flute is called xiao.

Amongst several types of Chinese flutes, xiao are played vertically and end-blown. Originally made of bamboo, they were later made in several materials such as wood, jade, bronze or porcelain, such as the present lot. Making a porcelain flute that sounded perfectly was specifically difficult as the slightest distortion of the shape in the firing process could alter the clarity of sound. Several white-glazed xiao are known, an example is preserved and displayed in the Palace Museum in Beijing (no. gu00145002), another one in the British Museum (no. 1980,0728.637) (link).

This flute was previously in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 6, 1982, no. 199 and in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 11, 1961, fig. 232.

Another was illustrated by Krahl in Chinese Ceramics in the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 2, no. 997.

Donnelly in Blanc de Chine, New York, 1969, illustrates two vertical flutes (xiao), pl. 68A, and notes that they are slightly different in length and diameter due to shrinkage in firing and yet sound the same fundamental, in this case 'd', which was the fundamental of the late Ming period. He also notes that "by the middle years of the seventeenth century the production of these instruments at Tehua was sufficient to merit a separate section in the Min Xiao-ji", where they are described as "lustrous white in colour and of fine quality but only one or two in a hundred are in tune. Of those that are, however, the sound is sad but clear, carrying far better than the bamboo (flute)"

Ref.:
- Christie's, New York, Important Chinese Art Including the Collection of Dorothy Tapper Goldman, March 21-22, 2024, lot 843, for a 17th century Dehua flute (sold USD 65.520) (link)
- Sotheby's, Hong Kong, May 5, 2026, lot 9898, for a quasi identical example. (sold HKD 486.400) (link)