The Three Emperors: Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns from the Yidetang Collection
The Three Emperors: Imperial Porcelain of the Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong reigns from the Yidetang Collection
A Ming-style blue and white ewer, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 青花枇杷壽桃紋明式執壺 《大清乾隆年製》款
Auction Closed
October 12, 11:48 AM GMT
Estimate
800,000 - 1,200,000 HKD
Lot Details
Description
A Ming-style blue and white ewer
Seal mark and period of Qianlong
清乾隆 青花枇杷壽桃紋明式執壺 《大清乾隆年製》款
based on a Persian metal form, the pear-shaped body rising from a short straight foot to tall waisted neck and everted rim, painted in brilliant cobalt-blue tones to the front and back face with a large quatrefoil panel, one enclosing a fruiting peach spray, the other a fruiting loquat, each flanked by leafy composite floral stems, all between lotus-lappet and classic scroll bands at the foot and lotus scroll and stiff leaf bands at the neck, set to one side with a large strap handle surmounted by an eyelet above three moulded bosses simulating metal studs and painted with lingzhi sprays, opposite with an elegant long curved spout secured to the body with a cloud-shaped strut and painted with classic scroll, the base with an underglaze-blue six-character seal mark
26.8 cm
This well-known, successful design originated in the Yongle period, when the form of ewer of the Hongwu reign and ultimately the Yuan dynasty was developed and improved and matured to a highly pleasing model. Ewers of this form were produced in the Yongle reign in many different designs, but the peach-and-loquat version appears to have become the most popular, which it also remained in the Qing dynasty.
A reconstructed ewer from the Yongle stratum of the Ming imperial kiln sites was included in the exhibition Jingdezhen Zhushan chutu Yongle guanyao ciqi [Yongle Imperial porcelain excavated at Zhushan, Jingdezhen], Capital Museum, Beijing, 2007, cat. no. 66.
A Qianlong ewer of this design, from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, is illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue-and-white porcelain in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2002, vol. II, pl. 210, together with a Yongle prototype, vol. I, pl. 19, and others attributed to the Xuande period, vol. I, pls. 95 and 96; and a Jiaqing version, also in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. II, pl. 249. Another Qianlong piece is in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, together with two Yongle prototypes, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, ed. John Ayers, London, 1986, vol. III, no. 2565, and vol. II, no. 618. Qianlong examples are also in the Shanghai Museum, included in Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi / Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections: A Series of Monographs, Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, p. 239, pl. 5-1; and one with a cover in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, is published in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum. Blue-and-White Ware of the Ch'ing Dynasty, vol. II, Hong Kong, 1968, pl. 14.
永樂青花執壺，享負盛名，其器形設計可上溯元朝，並以洪武執壺為基礎，改良成清雅可愛之品。永樂一朝，相若執壺紋飾多樣，如有繪牡丹者，但相比之下，壽桃枇杷紋最為常見，至清朝時仍有燒製。
明御窰永樂遺存出土執壺，復修後於《景德鎮珠山出土永樂官窰瓷器》展出，首都博物館，北京，2007年，編號66，可資比較。
北京故宮清宮舊藏乾隆青花執壺，同飾壽桃枇杷，圖見耿寶昌編，《故宮博物院藏明初青花瓷》，北京，2002年，下冊，圖版210，該書並錄一件永樂朝雛本，見上冊，圖版19，以及宣德朝例子，上冊，圖版95及96。北京故宮博物院也藏嘉慶壺例，收錄於耿寶昌編，《故宮博物院藏古陶瓷資料選萃》，北京，2005 年，卷2，圖版249。伊斯坦堡托普卡比宮殿博物館另藏相類乾隆器例，以及兩把永樂執壺，圖刊於康蕊君，《Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul》，約翰．艾爾斯編，倫敦，1986年，卷3，編號2565，以及卷2，編號618。乾隆朝例子上海博物館有藏，見陸明華，《上海博物館藏品研究大系：明代官窰瓷器》，上海，2007年，頁239，圖版5-1。台北故宮存一件連蓋執壺，見於《故宮瓷藏：清青花瓷（二）》，香港，1968年，圖版14。