A rare Junyao hexalobed tripod narcissus bowl, Early Ming dynasty | 明初 鈞窰玫瑰紫釉三足葵式水仙盆 「七」字款

Tonying & Company, Inc., New York.

Collection of Saint Louis Art Museum, Missouri.

Christie's New York, 30th March 2005, lot 328.

通運公司，紐約

聖路易斯藝術博物館收藏，密蘇里州

紐約佳士得2005年3月30日，編號328

Qin Dashu, Junyao Ceramics from the Beixuan Shuzhai Collection, Hong Kong, 2017, pl. 34.

秦大樹，《柏煊書齋．鈞窰》，香港，2017年，圖版34

Narcissus bowls of this elegant flower petal shape, of various glaze colours, sizes and with various inscribed numbers, are found in many museum collections, particularly in the Palace Museum, Taipei, and the Palace Museum, Beijing, but very rare in private hands.

This type of bowl is often paired with a flower pot as a set. Recent study suggests such pieces were commissioned by the early Ming court (first half of the 15th century). According to ‘On pure enjoyment of cultured idleness’ from Zhusheng bajian [Eight discourses on a healthful lifestyle] by late Ming literati Gao Lian (1573-1620), this type of bowl was used to ‘prevent earthworms from entering the planter through these holes and damaging the plant’s roots…’ (Chen Yuxiu ed., Penping fenghua, Ming Qing huaqi tezhan / The Enchanting Splendor of Vases and Planters: A Special Exhibition of Flower Vessels from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Taipei, 2014, pl. I-10).

Similar objects were unearthed from the Juntai kiln site in Yuzhou City, Henan province, in 1974, while more examples are preserved in the Qing imperial collection and kept in the Palace Museum, Beijing and the Palace Museum, Taipei. A very similar example, also inscribed with the numeral qi (seven), equally with 15 firing spur marks underneath, is published in ibid., cat. no. I-10). Similar bowls inscribed qi were sold in these rooms, 26th October 1993, lot 14; and at Christie’s New York, 26th March 2003, lot 227.

鈞窰葵式水仙盆多藏於博物館，尤以兩岸故宮為魁，各件釉色變幻，尺寸互異，刻不同數字款，然私人所藏稀見無多。

水仙盆常與花盆匹配。有新研究表明，此類鈞瓷乃明初宮廷命窰匠燒造。明末高士高濂（1573-1620年）著《遵生八箋》，有《燕閒清賞箋》記述水仙盆「盆下有竅，不可着泥地安頓，恐蚯蚓從孔中潛入，損侵花根……」（陳玉秀（編），《瓶盆風華─明清花器特展》，台北，2014年，圖版I-10）。

1974年，河南省禹州市鈞台窰址出土相似水仙盆，有更多類例曾蓄於清宮舊藏，現存兩岸故宮。一例甚似，同刻「七」字款，器底均佈支釘十五處，刊前述出處，編號I-10。另有「七」字款類例，分別售於香港蘇富比1993年10月26日，編號14，及紐約佳士得2003年3月26日，編號227。