A pair of exceptionally rare doucai waterpots, Marks and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 鬪彩五色祥雲紋馬蹄式水丞一對 《大清雍正年製》款

Collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991.

The Jingguantang Collection.

Christie's Hong Kong, 3rd November 1998, lot 956.

The Gerald M. Greenwald Collection, collection no. 88.

Christie's Hong Kong, 1st December 2010, lot 2816.

An important Asian private collection.

Bonhams Hong Kong, 2nd June 2016, lot 12 and back cover.

香港徐氏藝術館，1991年

靜觀堂收藏

香港佳士得1998年11月3日，編號956

葛沃得收藏，編號88

香港佳士得2010年12月1日，編號2816

重要亞洲私人收藏

香港邦翰斯2016年6月2日，編號12及封底

The Tsui Museum of Art, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 112.

Chinese Ceramics, vol. IV, Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1995, pl. 131.

《徐氏藝術館》，徐氏藝術館，香港，1991年，圖版112

《徐氏藝術館：陶瓷篇IV．清代》，徐氏藝術館，香港，1995年，圖版131

The present pair of waterpots are extraordinary examples of Yongzheng doucai porcelain which represent some of the Yongzheng emperor’s greatest passions: his love of classical styles of the past; his taste for exacting contemporary design; his insistence on outstanding quality; and his infatuation with portends of good luck.

The Yongzheng emperor took a keen interest in the work of the various imperial manufactories in his empire and the production of the Jingdezhen imperial kilns. In addition, he also brought his personal influence to bear the workshop's artistic direction by fine-tuning shapes to ideal, harmonious proportions, developing sophisticated yet uncontrived designs, and taking the best works of the past as standards to aspire to, together with the celebrated kiln supervisor, Tang Ying, he achieved a porcelain production of a distinctive style, subdued elegance, and material refinement unmatched in any other period. 

The present lot may thus be regarded as a distant echo of a famous but rare and equally unorthodox Ming style of doucai cups painted with ruyi-head cloud scrolls, Chenghua marks and period, a pair, for example, from the Qing Court Collection, are illustrated in The Complete Collection of the Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, Shanghai, 2007, no.181.

The eccentric, almost completely abstract design of the clouds is most characteristic of the taste of the Yongzheng emperor.The courage to abstraction in design and to immaculate, stream-lined forms calculated on the drawing board, which nowadays seem ultra-modern, are a trademark of Yongzheng artefacts unique in Chinese art, as no other emperor appears to have had a similarly sophisticated cultural understanding and artistic vision.

It was the Yongzheng emperor, who in the Qing dynasty refreshed the strong interest in auspicious symbols, which became ubiquitous later in the Qianlong reign. The design of swirling lingzhi-shaped five-coloured clouds on the present lot is known as wuse yun or qing yun clouds. Imperial works of art from the Qing Court Collection shows that the Yongzheng emperor seemed to have a particular fondness for the physical as well as symbolic appearance of qing yun between the 7th and the 10th year of his reign. Scenes of auspicious five-coloured clouds appearing above the sky were recorded several times in the Palace memorials presented to the emperor. The Imperial archives also recorded paintings depicting such type of clouds were ordered by the Yongzheng emperor in 1730, see L. Lina, 'Auspicious symbols and scenes of the Yongzheng period', in F. Mingzhu, Harmony and Integrity: The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, Taipei, 2009, pp.374 – 399.

The Yongzheng emperor's fondness for this decoration is evident in the number of extant Imperial works of art, similarly decorated with multi-coloured clouds, including the carved wooden plaque inlaid with painted enamel swirling clouds and the inscription reading 'Heed Rashness and Use Perseverance'; a painted enamel snuff bottle, Yongzheng mark and period; a painted enamel tiered box and cover, Yongzheng mark and period; and a stand with a hanging fish pendant, depicted in 'Yinzhen's Amusements: Copying a Sutra in a Studio', illustrated in F. Mingzhu, ibid., Taipei, 2009, pp.20, 116-117, 258 and 269. See also a doucai bottle vase, Yongzheng mark and period, similarly decorated with cloud scrolls, which was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2010, lot 1862. 

See also a doucai stemcup, mark and period of Yongzheng, with similar five-coloured clouds decorated but together with a red sun; previously in the collections of Roger Lam, T.Y. Chao, Nancy and Ira Koger, and now in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Sotheby's. Thirty Years in Hong Kong 2003, pl.185, and published in R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. IV, London, 2010, no. 1744.

水丞馬蹄式，斂口，斜腹漸豐，廣平底內凹，淺圈足，足底青花雙圈楷書款。外壁飾鬪彩慶雲紋，雲頭捲曲，釉色淡雅，精巧別緻。此器形製及紋飾，充分體現雍正皇帝對的藝術品味：包括他對古典風格的推崇、對高雅品味的掌握、對於最高品質的追求、以及對於祥瑞徵兆含義的注重。

雍正對藝術的鍾爱 ，體現在他對宮廷造辦處以及景德鎮御窰廠各事務的直接干預，並以其獨特的個人情趣與品味對宮廷御製品的審美走向產生極大影響，對器物的形製、比例以及紋飾設都有嚴格的要求，以宮中舊藏前朝古器為靈感，與督陶官唐英一道在慕古的先人經典的基礎上又推陳出新，創作出一批品味超凡、特征鮮明的御用器具，致使後朝再無法超越。

此對鬪彩五色祥雲紋馬蹄式水丞，則可能是慕仿明代成化鬪彩名品靈芝如意雲紋杯，再加以雍正皇帝個人審美而出，見北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏兩件明成化鬪彩靈芝杯，著錄於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集：五彩．鬪彩》，香港，2007年，編號181。

如此對水丞所飾可見，這種相對抽象的祥雲紋應該與雍正皇帝本人獨特人格及藝術審美有密切關聯。在雍正帝的諭旨下，御窰廠得以大膽將抽象紋飾與官樣造型的完美結合，使雍正一朝宮廷藝術呈現獨有成就。雍正帝對文化深層的理解以及對藝術敏感的洞察力可謂其他歷朝歷代的皇帝望塵莫及，然這種對藝術的態度，如今日視之，更是一種超現代的設計理念。

雍正一朝，吉祥圖案再次備受推崇，此舉直接影警到其後的乾隆一朝的御窰設計。陰陽五色、姿彩各異的雲氣稱為「五色祥雲」，又名「慶雲」，在雍正年間官員呈報之奏摺以及皇帝之批覆中多有提及。而雍正帝將此天文異像視為瑞祥之徵兆，代表孝德豐稔之瑞應。如雍正六年十月二十九日，三省總督額爾泰及雲南總兵官張應宗呈報五華山五色慶雲疊現：「文武官員等，在五華山朝賀，畢。坐班至辰刻，共覩五色慶雲，光燦捧日。......齊祝萬壽無疆」雍正閱後批覆：「況此嘉祥，實係卿忠誠所感，而獻於朕壽日者，正表卿愛戴之心也。」雍正早期的宮廷繪畫中，也經常有對慶雲疊現的描繪，郎世寧繪「海天旭日圖」以及宮廷畫師金昆繪「有鳥詩意圖」冊，可能均是描繪雍正七年鄧州、蓬萊的慶雲現象。而相傳東海蓬萊、方丈、瀛洲三座仙山上有長生不老之藥，秦始皇、漢武帝皆為尋求仙丹先後派人來此，這正符合雍正帝崇奉道法之意。有關雍正年間之祥瑞符應更多的討論，可見林莉娜，「雍正朝之祥瑞符應」，於《雍正：清世宗文物大展》，台北，2009年，頁374-399。

雍正帝對五彩祥雲紋的喜愛還表現在其他宮廷藝術品上：如一件清雍正木雕嵌琺瑯片「戒急用忍」掛屏，表面刻滿祥雲紋，並嵌以畫琺瑯雲紋片；一件清雍正銅胎畫琺瑯黑地五彩流雲玉兔秋香鼻煙壺；一件清雍正銅胎畫琺瑯黑地五彩雲紋穿帶盒；另見北京故宮藏「胤禎行樂圖之書齋寫經圖」中所繪一件黑漆螺鈿玉魚吊架，亦有類似的五彩祥雲紋，見《雍正》，頁20、116-117、258及269。另見香港蘇富比售出一件清雍正闘彩祥雲紋瓶，亦是慕仿成化闘彩名品而推陳出新之作，2010年4月8日，編號1862。

類似的五色祥雲紋於一件雍正高足杯上也有所見，紋飾中同時繪有旭日，此高足杯先後由林秀降、趙從衍及 Nancy and Ira Koger 遞藏，現為玫茵堂收蔵，著錄於《香港蘇富比二十周年1973-1993》，圖185。亦收錄於《香港蘇富比三十週年》，香港，2003年，圖185，並同時出版於康蕊君，《玫茵堂藏中國陶瓷》，卷4，倫敦，2010年，編號1744。