A rare blue and white jarlet and cover, Ming dynasty, Yongle period | 明永樂 青花折枝花卉紋雙繫小蓋罐

Sotheby’s London, 11th December 1984, lot 319.

Eskenazi Ltd, London, 1995, label no. C1153. 

倫敦蘇富比1984年12月11日，編號319

埃斯卡納齊，倫敦，1995年，標籤編號C1153

The Yongle period (1403-24) is noted for the significant advancements and innovations introduced to China’s porcelain production, as the imperial kilns in Jingdezhen came under direct supervision from the court. This period is marked by a profusion of new shapes, styles and designs, a sea change so fundamental, that thereafter no real innovation took place for centuries. The present jarlet serves as an example of a new shape that emerged during this prolific period; the addition of two or three small loop handles to the body or shoulder of vessels is a new and distinctive feature (Feng Xianming, ‘Yongle and Xuande Blue-and-white Porcelain in the Palace Museum', Chinese Ceramics: Selected Articles from Orientations 1982-1998, Hong Kong, 1999, pp. 172-86). Although the precise function of the loop handles is as yet unclear, it was proposed that they were possibly used for securing the cover.

Perfectly formed in its charming shape and softly painted with floral scrolls, this jarlet exemplifies the style and taste of early Ming imperial porcelain. The jarlet is painted in vibrant blue colours with the characteristic 'heaped and piled' effect, depicting five sprays of flowers - chrysanthemum, camellia, peony, gardenia and rose - between bands of overlapping lappets. Blue-and-white jarlets of this particular form, always featuring a floral motif, vary in few but distinct ways: they were either painted with five detached floral sprays or with a continuous lotus scroll. The former design, as seen on the present jarlet, is comparatively rarer and even more so as it is preserved with its cover. See a covered example, with similar decoration but a different border encircling the cover, preserved in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrates in ibid., p. 179, fig. 15; and two similar examples without a cover: one preserved in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Wang Qing-zheng, Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 64, pl. 50; the other from the collections of Mrs Alfred Clark and T.Y. Chao was sold in these rooms, 18th November 1986, lot 32.

For related jarlets with a continuous lotus scroll design, see two covered examples, one preserved in the Beijing Palace Museum, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Shanghai, 2000, pl. 44; and another from the collection of Mr and Mrs Alfred Clark, sold in these rooms, 29th October 2001, lot 526. See also a related Yongle white-glazed jarlet incised with floral sprays, illustrate in René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé, Treasures from the Shanghai Museum, 6,000 Years of Chinese Art, San Francisco, 1983, pl. 107.

永樂一朝，朝廷管理監燒御瓷，力求陶藝埏埴之臻善臻美，促使中國瓷業發展興盛，創新紛呈，無論器形、風格、釉色、紋飾皆新品層出，大放異彩，技術巧思，一日千里，幾近極限，以致後世數百年間未見重要創新。此雙繫小蓋罐，造型典麗，紋飾細緻，展現大明永樂朝青花瓷之美善至臻。馮先銘於〈Yongle and Xuande Blue-and-White Porcelain in the Palace Museum〉一文指出，於器身或器肩加上雙繫或三繫，為永樂時期創新的器形，詳見《Chinese Ceramics: Selected Articles from Orientations 1982-2003》，香港，1999年，頁172-86。

本品妙繪五組折枝花卉，包括菊花、山茶花、牡丹、梔子花及玫瑰，尺寸小巧，置於掌心，安適稱意。此類雙繫小蓋罐見折枝花卉紋或纏枝蓮紋作例，折枝花卉紋例較為罕見，如本品帶蓋者，更為珍罕。折枝花卉紋例，可參考北京故宮博物院一帶蓋類例，載於馮先銘，頁179，圖15。另外兩例，蓋佚失，其一為上海博物館館藏，載於汪慶正，《青花釉裏紅》，香港，1987年，頁64，圖版50；另一為克拉克夫人及趙從衍遞藏，售於香港蘇富比1986年11月18日，編號32。纏枝蓮紋例，可參考兩帶蓋例，其一貯於北京故宮博物院，載於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．青花釉裏紅（上）》，上海，2000年，圖版44；另一為克拉克夫人舊藏，售於香港蘇富比2001年10月29日，編號526。尚有一永樂白釉暗刻花卉紋例可資參考，載於 René-Yvon Lefebvre d'Argencé，《Treasures from the Shanghai Museum, 6,000 Years of Chinese Art》，三藩市，1983年，圖版107。