A very rare flambé-glazed ewer, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正 窰變釉菊瓣紋花澆 《雍正年製》款

Collection of Herman Baer (1898-1977).

Christie's London, 10th November 2015, lot 347.

Herman Baer（1898-1977年）收藏

倫敦佳士得2015年11月10日，編號347

The present ewer, superbly potted with an attractive flambe glaze, epitomises the height of Qing porcelain production at Jingdezhen, when craftsmen strove to design innovative wares as well as recreate historical masterpieces that acted as reminders of China’s glorious past. It represents the Qing emperors’ eagerness to revive the celebrated porcelain tradition as a means to legitimise their right to rule.

The unusual form of this attractive and rare ewer appears to be derived from a Middle Eastern metal shape, but such foreign vessels were rarely taken directly as models in the Qing dynasty. It was generally the potters of the Yongle period in the early Ming dynasty who copied such forms, and the present ewer form, which exists both with and without handle, and comes also with blue-and-white decoration in early Ming style, may be an adaptation of an early Ming porcelain form, which in turn is based on Middle Eastern metal prototypes. Compare a fragmentary white porcelain ewer recovered from the Yongle stratum of the Ming imperial kiln sites, included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, cat. no. 6. However, a 12th or 13th century Iranian metal ewer from the Keir collection, which is more closely related to this Qing dynasty form than to the early Ming version, is illustrated in Geza Fehervari, Islamic Metalwork of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection, London, 1976, pl. 15. See also a 12th-century brass example with a lobed body, sold in our London rooms, 22nd April 2015, lot 5; and a 14th-century Iranian silver-inlaid brass ewer in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Yongzheng ewers of this shape, with or without a handle, can be found in public and private collections. However, flambé-glazed examples are extremely rare, and only two other ewers appear to be published: one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong bowuguan cang Qingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Qing dynasty imperial kilns in the Palace Museum collection], vol. 1, pt. II, Beijing, 2005, pl. 143; and the other, sold in these rooms, 21st May 1979, lot 101.

Vessels of this form are also known with other monochrome glazes, such as a white ewer from the Grandidier collection in the Musée Guimet, Paris, accession no. G3351, absent of a handle, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 7, fig. 170. Compare another white ewer, also without a handle, from the collection of Edward T. Chow, illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 794. A related celadon-glazed ewer without a handle from the Avery Brundage collection is in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, accession no. B60P13, illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics. A New Standard Guide, London, 1996, pl. 544. 

窰變釉花澆，形秀色佳，佐證清代景德鎮瓷藝顛峰。時御窰巧匠，推陳出新之餘，借古為鑑，藉著前朝遺風，匡正統治，宣揚聖威。

窰變釉花澆，器形源自中東金屬器，然清代罕見以外來器形為礎之例，惟可前溯至明永樂時期，明本花澆有含提把、或如本品無把者，亦有青花例，皆應以中東器為範本。比較明代御窰遺址，永樂時期地層出土白釉花澆殘片，展出於《景德鎮珠山出土永樂宣德官窰瓷器展覽》，香港，1989年，編號6。參考 Keir 珍藏一件十二至十三世紀伊朗金屬花澆，造形與本品近似，更勝明例，錄於 Geza Fehervari，《Islamic Metalwork of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir Collection》，倫敦，1976年，圖版15。還可參考一件十二世紀黃銅花澆，線條流麗，器腹圓潤，呈瓜棱式，2015年4月22日售於倫敦蘇富比，編號5。另可比較克里夫蘭藝術博物館藏十四世紀伊朗黃銅嵌銀花澆，器流及腹之造型工整方正，卻略乏圓弧曲線。

雍正花澆，有附曲柄或無柄者，公私典藏有例可資比較，然罩施窰變釉者卻寥寥可數，除此器外僅只二例。其一存北京，見《故宮博物院藏清代御窰瓷器》，卷1下，北京，2005年，圖版143。香港蘇富比1979年5月21日也拍出一例，同附曲柄，編號101。

參考其他單色釉例，如巴黎吉美國立亞洲藝術博物館白釉花澆，無柄，屬 Grandidier 舊藏，載於《東洋陶磁大觀》，卷7，東京，1980-82年，圖170。仇焱之舊藏白釉花澆，也無柄，錄於康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，倫敦，1994-2010年，卷2，編號794。布倫戴奇舊藏一件青釉無柄花澆，現存舊金山亞洲藝術博物館，編號B60P13，刊於賀利，《Chinese Ceramics. A New Standard Guide》，倫敦，1996年，圖版544。