A rare cloisonné enamel 'loquat and grapes' dish, Yuan - early Ming dynasty | 元至明初 掐絲琺瑯枇杷葡萄紋盤

Pierre Mercier Collection, Paris.

Pierre Mercier 收藏，巴黎

The 1st Paris Salon du Collectionneur, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, 2003 (dated as Yuan dynasty).

Chinese Cloisonné Enamels - Art sous les Arcades, Asian Art Singapore, 2009, cat. no. 10 (dated as Yuan dynasty).

《The 1st Paris Salon du Collectionneur》，Carrousel du Louvre，巴黎，2003年（定為元代）

《Chinese Cloisonné Enamels - Art sous les Arcades》，新加坡，2009年，編號10 （定為元代）

Superbly enamelled, the present dish is notably rare for its early date and the unusual palette of coloured enamels, which exhibits some of the finest elements of late Yuan to early Ming cloisonné enamel: a bright and lustrous semi-translucent quality of the enamels, a colour scheme of blue, red, yellow and white reserved on a bright turquoise-blue or a dark-green ground, and decorative motifs of a slightly rounded flower petals and lotus scroll, which was a style commonly seen on Yuan dynasty works of art.

Introduced into China in the 14th century during the Yuan dynasty, cloisonné enamel wares are widely considered to have reached artistic maturity during the first half of the 15th century. However, unlike the later examples, the use of the bright turquoise-blue enamel to the interior, and the dark green yet semi-translucent enamel to the cavetto on the present lot resemble some of the cloisonné enamel vessels dated to the Yuan dynasty. See for example a cloisonné incense burner, Yuan dynasty, from the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Enamels 1, Anhui, 2011, no.9, with a similar dark-green ground to the waisted neck.

The grapevine motif on gilt-bronze and cloisonné enamel vessels first appeared during the Yuan dynasty, although it became popular though the Ming dynasty. The distinctive style of the white-enamelled gardenia flowers around the cavetto on the present lot is also closely associated with the Yuan dynasty examples, see a Ding-shaped cloisonné incense burner in the Qing Court Collection, with similar style of flowers below the mouth, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum, Enamels 1, Anhui, 2011, no.5. See another closely related example, dated to the Yuan dynasty, illustrated in H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, no.40.

盤撇口，淺弧腹，圈足，沿口及圈足作鎏金裝飾，澄黃潤澤，光亮柔和。器表採用掐絲琺瑯工藝，盤心施天藍色釉色料為地，分兩側各飾葡萄、枇杷圖案。枇杷呈色嬌黃，顆粒圓熟，三五成簇，窄葉修長，點綴於畫面一側。葡萄作紫色施染，飽滿豐腴，成串掛于葉下，葡萄枝葉作漸變顏色處理，或自墨綠轉至淺綠，或自淺綠轉至黃、紅，效果唯美，過渡自然。葡萄、枇杷之間作掐絲金線為枝蔓。金線所飾藤條枝葉流轉纏繞，頗具裝飾色彩。盤內壁以墨綠釉色為地，上飾白色梔子花，花葉相伴，環于盤周，齊整排列。盤器外壁亦以天藍色釉作地，上飾成串葡萄零星點綴於沿口上部，疏朗有致。

掐絲琺瑯器自宋元時期傳入中國，至明代十五世紀中期前後發展興盛。此盤紋飾及釉彩皆具有元代風格，但學術界就此類紋飾是否能上溯至元代仍有爭議。然此盤形制規整，構圖精美，掐絲細緻，天藍色琺瑯釉具有典型的早期特點，釉料明亮亮麗，半透明的琺瑯釉特質於明代後期有所不同。北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏元代掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋繩耳爐，口沿下束頸處施墨綠色透明琺瑯，可資參考，見《故宮博物院藏品大系：琺瑯器編1 》，安徽，2011年，編號9。

葡萄紋及枇杷紋雖最早在元代掐絲琺瑯器上就有所見，但明代變得更為盛行。此盤內壁所飾白色梔子花亦有元代掐絲琺瑯特點，見北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏一件元代掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋鼎式爐，口沿亦飾梔子花於墨綠色地之上，可資參考，著錄於《故宮博物院藏品大系：琺瑯器編1 》，安徽，2011年，編號5。另一件同類的元代掐絲琺瑯，著錄於 H. Brinker 及 A. Lutz， 《Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection》，紐約，1989年，編號40。