A rare blue and white polychrome-enamelled 'lotus' vase, Mark and period of Wanli | 明萬曆 青花加彩螭龍耳纏枝番蓮紋尊 《大明萬曆年製》款

Shigeyuki Yanagi, Kyoto.

Present owner acquired from the above in late 1990s.

柳重之，京都

現藏家於1990年代末購於上述來源

The Grandeur of Chinese Art Treasures: Min Chiu Society Golden Jubilee Exhibition, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2010, cat. no. 156.

《博古存珍: 敏求精舍金禧紀念展》，香港藝術館，香港，2010年，編號156

The form and decoration of this vase, including its chilong handles, lotus scrolls, and upturned lotus, follow the tradition of porcelain from the Zhengde and Jiajing periods. Compare with a Fahua-glazed vase with related motifs, Jiajing, in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Japan, which is illustrated in Chinese Ceramicsin the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, no. 692. Compare also with an famille-rose biscuit ‘lotus’ vase with similar chilong handles and form, Zhengde, in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, which is on permanent display in the Ming and Qing Porcelain Gallery, but has not been published. Vases with underglaze blue and overglaze enamels like the present lot are quite rare. See two blue and white examples, refer to a highly related Wanli blue and white vase with lotus scroll pattern and chilong handles in the Tianjin Museum, which has similar form and decoration, but without enamels, illustrated in Blue-and-White Porcelain of the Ming and Qing Dynasties Collected by Tianjin Museum, Beijing, 2013, p. 42.; and a blue and white Wanli vase with a peony scroll and chilong handles in the Palace Museum, Taipei, which has similar form but different decoration, illustrated in Chen Yuxiu ed., The enchanting Splendor of Vases and Planters: A Special Exhibition of Flower Vessels from the Ming and Qing dynasties, Taipei, 2014, pl. II-26. See a third blue and white example, highly close to the former, sold in Christie’s London, 7 November 2006, lot 179.

The inside of the wooden box cover was inscribed with the authentication note of Koyama Fujio (1900 - 1975): 'Kozanshi-kan'. 'Kozanshi' is an alternate name for Fujio, who was a major ceramic connoisseur of the 20th century in Japan and also a master of ceramics himself. He had visited many ancient kiln sites before the second World War and was one of the earliest scholars to discover the sites of Dingyao.

侈口外撇，頸微束，溜肩，肩頸兩側黏燒螭龍各一條，龍躬身呈W形，胸鼓脹而腹下收，底部外撇，圈足圓棱，修削工整， 整器釉下青花由上至下繪卷草紋於口沿下，頸部及胸腹滿繪纏枝番蓮紋，螭龍滿塗青料，肩部分別繪蕉葉紋、豎條紋、如意雲頭紋三層，腹部以仰蓮紋隔斷，釉上再加繪紅黃綠三彩，口沿下青花正方形開光內書「大明萬曆年製」青花楷書款，其上再加綠彩。

此尊之螭龍耳、蕃蓮紋、仰蓮等形制與裝飾，承襲自正德、嘉靖朝瓷器，可參考日本出光美術館藏一件明嘉靖法華釉番蓮紋瓶，見出光美術館編，《中國陶瓷》，東京，1987年編，號692；遼寧省博物館藏有一件明正德素三彩纏枝蓮紋雙螭耳瓶乃是目前所見較早的近似螭龍耳尊設計，常展於遼寧省博物館明清瓷器精品展廳，惟尚未出版。類似青花加彩尊頗為少見，惟可比較青花者，可參考天津市博物館藏一件明萬曆青花纏枝花紋螭耳瓶，器型紋飾與本件頗似，惟缺加彩，見天津博物館編，《青藍雅靜：館藏明清青花瓷器陳列》，北京，2013年，頁42；台北故宮藏明萬曆青花牡丹獸耳長頸瓶，器型類同，惟紋飾為折枝牡丹，見陳玉秀編，《瓶盆風華：明清花器特展》，台北，2014年，圖版II-26。

此尊木盒蓋內有小山富士夫（1900-75年）鑒定署款：「古山子鑑」。古山子即小山富士夫別號。小山為二十世紀日本瓷器鑒定大家，本身亦是陶藝大師，早在戰前便踏足諸多古窰址，為發現定窰燒造遺址最早的學者之一。