An extremely rare blue and white 'fish' dish, Mark and period of Chenghua | 明成化 青花荷塘魚藻紋盤 《大明成化年製》款

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st May 2001, lot 514.

香港蘇富比2001年5月1日，編號514

The present piece is an extremely rare example of early Chenghua imperial blue-and-white porcelain, featuring the transition from the style inherited from the Xuande period (r. 1425-35) to the more refined and delicate aesthetic commonly known as the matured Chenghua style. Like many other Changhua imperial porcelain of the early period, the design of this dish was inspired by Xuande prototypes; see, for example, a Xuande dish of larger size with a similar fish design and a wave border around the rim in the Taipei Palace Museum, illustrated in Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu [Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty], Taipei, 1998, cat.no. 180.

In contrast to the pieces identified as mature Chenghua style, which has brighter and clearer blue, this piece shows a noticeable dark area and a slight heaping and piling effect. This is a result of using high iron cobalt imported from the Middle East, commonly used during the Yongle and Xuande period in the early 15th century, while sparingly used during the Chenghua era (r. 1464-87). A typical example of this style is found on a blue-and-white meiping vase with a Xuande mark but of the Chenghua period, from the Sir Percival David Collection in the British Museum, illustrated in Rosemary Scott and Stacey Pierson, Flawless Porcelains: Imperial Ceramics from the Reign of the Chenghua Emperor, London, 1995, pl. 15.

Chenghua example of this design is extremely rare, that no other intact piece is known today. The only comparable example is a reconstructed piece from the sherds excavated in the Ming imperial kiln site in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, illustrated in Mingdai Chenghua yuyao ciqi. Shang / Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Chenghua in the Ming Dynasty, I, Beijing, 2016. pl. 34. Two examples with similar ‘fish in a lotus pond’ decoration at the exterior, but on a turquoise ground and with a clear interior, one from the Ardebil Shrine Collection, is illustrated in The Emperor’s Broken China, Reconstructing Chenghua Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1995, fig. 3, p. 114; the other one from the Shanghai Museum, is illustrated in Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming dynasty imperial ceramics], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 3-66, p. 142. 

Dish of this design was reproduced again in the following Jiajing period (r. 1521-67), see, for example, a closely related piece bears a Jiajing mark and of the period was sold in these rooms, 14th November 1989, lot 30. 

造於明成化初期，青花荷塘魚藻紋盤，展現明代御製瓷器自宣德窰（1425-35年）傳統，逐漸發展至成化窰細緻精巧之審美的風格變化。類同多數成化早期官瓷，本品紋飾取材宣德窰雛本；參考如台北故宮博物院藏一件宣窰荷塘魚藻紋盤，尺寸較大，盤沿飾海水紋，出版於《明代宣德官窰精華特展圖錄》，台北，1998年，編號180。

成化窰後期風格，青花發色明亮清澈，本品青花可見部分深濃發色，偶有鐵斑，屬中東進口的鈷青特點，含鐵量高，進口青料廣用於十五世紀早期永宣官窰，成化時較少使用。此風格如大維德爵士珍藏一件成化窰青花梅瓶，書宣德年款，現存於大英博物館，錄於柯玫瑰與畢宗陶，《Flawless Porcelains: Imperial Ceramics from the Reign of the Chenghua Emperor》，倫敦，1995年，圖版15。

荷塘魚藻紋極罕見於成化瓷，現知完整器中無與本品相類之例。唯一相類者為江西景德鎮明代御窰遺址出土殘片重建，刊於《明代成化御窰瓷器（上）》，北京，2016年，圖版34。二盤外壁繪魚藻紋於孔雀藍地，內壁留白 ，其一藏於阿德比爾神廟載於《The Emperor’s Broken China, Reconstructing Chenghua Porcelain》，香港，1995年，圖3，頁114；另一現存於上海博物館，錄於陸明華，《明代官窰瓷器》，上海，2007年，圖版3-66，頁142。

嘉靖朝（1521-67年）復燒青花荷塘魚藻紋盤，如一例書嘉靖年款，1989年11月14日售於香港蘇富比，編號30。