An extremely rare aubergine-ground yellow and cobalt-blue enamelled 'dragon' bowl, Mark and period of Jiajing | 明嘉靖　茄皮紫地黃藍彩暗劃雲龍紋盌　《大明嘉靖年製》款

Mayuyama & Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

Collection of Tsuneichi Inoue (1906-1965).

Sotheby's London, 13th May 2015, lot 40.

Mayuyama & Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

Gen Min Meihin Ten [Exhibition of Yuan and Ming ceramics], Japan Ceramic Society, Tokyo, 1956, cat. no. 149.

Porcelaine. Chefs-d'œuvre de la Collection Ise, Musée Guimet, Paris, 2017, cat. no. 49.

Ise Korekushon Sekai wo Miryoshita Chugokutoji / The Enchanting Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 2017, cat. no. 59.

This bowl is unusual in its combination of bright overglaze enamels, reflecting the great level of experimentation exercised by the Jingdezhen potters active in the Jiajing reign. Suzanne G. Valenstein in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 191, notes that potters of the mid-16th century ‘were adept and imaginative with their palette of enamels and sought to achieve a maximum number of effects’. The use of low-fired cobalt on the interior of this vessel appears to have been inspired by fahua wares produced in both Northern and Southern China from the 14th century onwards. These glazes are watery when running thin, while deep and opaque when thick, thus allowing the potter to achieve an attractive shading effect.

Bowls of this type are very rare; only one other bowl of this colour combination and design appears to be recorded, from the collection of Su Lin An, subsequently sold in these rooms, 31st October 1995, lot 322, in which the lingzhi scroll on the interior is described as painted in underglaze blue. A bowl base shard of this design, described instead as painted in black enamel, was recovered from the imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen and is illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reign of Jiajing, Longqing and Wanli in the Ming Dynasty: A Comparison of Porcelains from the Imperial Kiln Site at Jingdezhen and the Imperial Collection of the Palace Museum, vol. 1, Beijing, 2018, pl. 201.

Bowls decorated with yellow dragons against an aubergine ground but undecorated on the interior, are more commonly known with Wanli marks and of the period; see one in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics, London, 2001, pl. 11:143; and another, from the T.Y. Chao collection, sold twice in these rooms, 16th May 1977, lot 51, and 19th May 1987, lot 258.

來源

繭山龍泉堂，東京

井上恒一（1906-1965年）收藏，東京

倫敦蘇富比2015年5月13日，編號40

繭山龍泉堂，東京

展覽

《中国陶磁 元明名品展》，日本陶磁協會（日本橋髙島屋），1956年，編號149

《Porcelaine. Chefs-d'œuvre de la Collection Ise》，吉美博物館，巴黎，2017年，編號49

《イセコレクション―世界を魅了した中国陶磁》，大阪市立東洋陶瓷美術館，大阪，2017年，編號59

本盌巧施釉上數彩，鮮明奪目，反映嘉靖年間，景德鎮瓷匠創思層出，積極求變。Suzanne G. Valenstein 論述，十六世紀中葉瓷匠「妙用各式釉彩，匠心獨運，以達成最多效果變化。」見《A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics》，紐約，1989年，頁191。本盌內側施低溫鈷料，似受十四世紀起，中國南北出產之琺華器所啟發。此類釉薄施則清瑩若水，厚塗則凝重深沉，燒成佳器濃淡變化，華美獨特。

此類盌甚為罕見，暫僅見另一存世例，為蘇林庵（坂本五郎）舊藏，釋於香港蘇富比1995年10月31日，編號322，據述，盌內靈芝紋飾為釉下青花。另可參考一盌底殘片，盌內靈芝紋飾據述為釉上黑色顔料，景德鎮御窰廠遺址出土，載於《明代嘉靖隆慶萬曆御窰瓷器：景德鎮御窰遺址出土與故宮博物院藏傳世瓷器對比》，上冊，北京，2018年，圖版201。

茄皮紫地黃龍盌，多見於萬曆年器，並款，內側光素無紋，大英博物館藏一例，圖錄於霍吉淑，《Ming Ceramics》，倫敦，2001年，圖版11:143；另一例出自趙從衍故藏，兩度售於香港蘇富比，先後為1977年5月16日，編號51及1987年5月19日，編號258。