A rare yellow-glazed bowl, Mark and period of Zhengde | 明正德 黃釉盌 《大明正德年製》款

Bluett & Sons, London.

Bluett & Son，倫敦

This bowl is striking for its rich yellow glaze, a colour strictly reserved for wares for the imperial court. This 'imperial yellow' glaze was produced at the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen throughout the Ming dynasty and was achieved by adding ferric oxide (3.5 %) to the lead silicate base, making this glaze a direct descendant of the yellow lead glazes of the Tang dynasty. Deceptively simple in form and colour, light-coloured monochrome porcelains required the highest level of skill and precision in the purity of the clay, potting, glazing and firing. Due to the minimalist nature of the pieces, where form and glaze worked together in perfect harmony, the slightest irregularity would result in their rejection and destruction.

Compare a closely related bowl, formerly from the collection of Lord Cunliffe, is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, pl. 1418. See also an example sold in these rooms, 15th November 1988, lot 150.

Bowls of this type, but of slightly larger size, include one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, published in John Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, pl. 155; one from the collection of Edward T. Chow, sold in these rooms, 25th November 1980, lot 53, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th October 2002, lot 685; and another sold in our New York rooms, 23rd September 1995, lot 421.

此盌黃釉豐潤，鮮豔奪目。黃釉，限宮廷御用，管制嚴格，製於明代景德鎮御窰。藝匠以唐朝黃釉為本，在硅酸鉛釉的基礎上加入氧化鐵（3.5%），燒成黃釉。淺單色釉器，燒製技巧要求極高，須取純土，施精工，胎、釉、火必嫻熟，佳器方成。也因形簡色單，器形釉色，渾然諧美，如有微瑕，必致毀棄。

尺寸相近之黃釉盌，Cunliffe 勛爵舊藏有例，圖見康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，倫敦，1994-2010年，卷2，圖版1418。另見一例，1988年11月15日在香港蘇富比拍出，編號150。

倫敦維多利亞與艾伯特博物館藏一黃釉盌，惟尺寸稍大，收錄在約翰．艾爾斯，《Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum》，倫敦，1980年，圖版155。仇焱之舊藏也有例，1980年11月25日在香港蘇富比拍出，編號53，後再於香港佳士得2002年10月28日拍場上易手，編號685。還可參考紐約蘇富比拍出之例，1995年9月23日，編號421。