A CLAIR-DE-LUNE-GLAZED HU-FORM VASE, KANGXI MARK AND PERIOD

Collection of Edson Bradley (1852-1935).

Christie's London, 6th March 1934, lot 86.

Sydney L. Moss Ltd., London.

Collection of Enid and Francis Brodie (1880-1967) Lodge, coll. no. M.41.

Sotheby's London, 11th July 1978, lot 205.

來源

Edson Bradley (1852-1935年) 收藏

倫敦佳士得1934年3月6日，編號86

Sydney L. Moss Ltd.，倫敦

Enid 及 Francis Brodie (1880-1967年) Lodge 收藏，收藏編號 M.41

倫敦蘇富比1978年7月11日，編號205

Monochrome Porcelain of the Ming and Manchu Dynasties, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1948, cat. no. 133.

Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics from the Collection of the Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1981, cat. no. 130.

Zhongguo mingtao riben xunhui zhan. Gangtai mingjia shoucang taoci jingpin [Exhibition of Famous Chinese Ceramics Touring Japan. Fine Ceramics from Private Hong Kong and Taiwanese Collections], Nihonbashi Takashimaya, Tokyo, 1992, p. 160.

展覽

《Monochrome Porcelain of the Ming and Manchu Dynasties》，東方陶瓷學會，倫敦，1948年，編號133

《求知雅集珍藏•中國古陶瓷展》，香港中文大學文物館，香港，1981年，編號130

《中國名陶日本巡迴展•港台名家收藏陶瓷精品》，日本橋高島屋，東京，1992年，頁160

Vessels of this elegant form and luminous clair-de-lune glaze are an example of the diverse monochrome glazes developed during the early Qing period. This high-fired glaze, with a cobalt content of about 1%, was first produced by the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen during the Kangxi Emperor’s reign. Known in the West by the nineteenth-century French connoisseurs’ term clair-de-lune (‘moon light’), and in China as tianlan (‘sky blue’), it was one of the most successful monochrome glazes created in Jingdezhen during the Kangxi period and was reserved exclusively for imperial porcelains. The color remained popular throughout the Qing dynasty, but lost its delicate soft hue in the nineteenth century. Vessels covered in this glaze are often very finely potted, an indication that they were probably made in the latter years of the Kangxi reign, as suggested by Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 241.

A similar vase in the Baur Collection is illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 177; and a slightly more globular example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 88. See also a vase sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 7th October 2015, lot 3614; and a slightly larger example, from the collection of David A. Berg, sold at Christie’s New York, 21st September 2000, lot 373, in our Hong Kong rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 2992, and again in these rooms, 15th March 2017, lot 510.

The elegant silhouette of this vase is based on Song dynasty prototypes, such as a celadon-glazed vase in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 52.

本天藍釉琵琶式尊造型典雅，釉色明亮潤澤，展示清康熙年間單色釉發展成就，燒成各款單色釉器，精彩紛呈。本瓶天藍釉屬高溫釉，鈷料成份約百分之一，康熙年間於景德鎮御窰首成，十九世紀法國鑒藏家稱之曰「clair-de-lune」，形容其色如天上明月，乃康熙年間景德鎮所創單色釉當中之臻品，流行於清代各朝，唯康熙年燒成之品，天藍釉最為細緻柔雅，至十九世紀時，天藍釉則發色灰暗，缺乏光澤。天藍釉瓷塑形精雅，由此可推斷為康熙晚期所製，詳見Suzanne G. Valenstein，《A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics》，紐約，1989年，頁241。

比較一例，鮑氏收藏，圖載於John Ayers，《Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection》，卷2，日內瓦，1999年，圖版177；北京故宮博物院收藏一例，瓶腹較圓，圖載於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．顏色釉》，香港，1999年，圖版88。另比一例，售於香港蘇富比2015年10月7日，編號 3614；再比一例，尺寸稍大，曾屬 David A. Berg 收藏，售於紐約佳士得2000年9月21日，編號373，後易手於香港蘇富比2008年4月11日，編號2992及紐約蘇富比2017年3月15日，編號510。

本瓶器型，可見宋代原型，比較紐約大都會藝術博物館收藏一件青釉瓶例，圖載於《Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections》，卷12，東京，1977年，圖版52。