Important Chinese Art
Important Chinese Art
A RARE MING-STYLE COPPER-RED DECORATED MOONFLASK QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND PERIOD | 清乾隆 釉裏紅蓮花錦紋如意耳抱月瓶 《大清乾隆年製》款
Auction Closed
November 6, 06:16 PM GMT
Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
PROPERTY FROM AN ENGLISH PRIVATE COLLECTION
英國私人收藏
A RARE MING-STYLE COPPER-RED DECORATED MOONFLASK
QIANLONG SEAL MARK AND PERIOD
清乾隆 釉裏紅蓮花錦紋如意耳抱月瓶 《大清乾隆年製》款
the flattened spherical body supported on a small domed foot and surmounted by a narrow waisted neck with central collar and incurved rim, joined to the shoulders by two strap handles forming right-angles and terminating in moulded ruyi-heads above florette bosses, the slightly domed sides each pencilled with a large medallion of geometric panels, each enclosing different florette and foliate motifs, centred on a lotus spray in a central star-shaped panel, the edges with bands of flower scroll extending from cloud and ruyi head borders around the foot and the base of the neck, with flower scrolls and florette-studded lappets around the neck, the base inscribed with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue
Height 17.5 cm, 6⅞ in.
Collection of Robert C. Bruce (1898-1953).
In the family by descent.
Robert C. Bruce（1898-1953年）收藏，此後家族傳承
Intricately painted in underglaze-red with a complex geometric design, the form and decoration of this flask closely follows an early Ming blue and white prototype inspired by Middle-Eastern designs, as found on blue and white flask of this design dated to the Yongle period from the collection of Sir Percival David, now in the British Museum, London, and illustrated in Regina Krahl and Jessica Harrison-Hall, Chinese Ceramics: Highlights of the Sir Percival David Collection, London, 2009, pl. 27. Alexander Pope in 'An Early Ming Porcelain in Muslim Style' in Richard Ettinghausen (ed.), Aus der Welt der Islamischen Kunst: Festschrift fuer Ernst Kuehnel, pl. 4B, discusses the Islamic origin of both the form and the decoration.
This particular flask is interesting as it was collected by Robert C. Bruce who owned two other moonflasks of similar size and decoration, one decorated in copper-red and puce enamels, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1951, pl. LXXXVI, fig. 1b, and sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 28th November 1979, lot 223, the second which was decorated in copper-red alone and is very close to the present flask, sold in Sotheby's London, 12th May 1953, lot 133 and now in the Gulbenkian Museum of Oriental Art and Archaeology, Durham.
A related flask was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1980, cat. no. 118; another is illustrated in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in The Baur Collection, vol. 2, Geneva, 1999, pl. 201; and two further examples were sold in our Hong Kong rooms, the first, 1st November 1999, lot 370; the second from the collection of Sir Quo-Wei Lee, 3rd October 2018, lot 113.
本瓶釉裏紅蓮花錦紋精細秀麗，器形及紋飾仿效一款明代青花原型，後者又以中東雛本為靈感，倫敦大英博物館收藏一件永樂年青花例，大衛德爵士故藏，圖載於康蕊君及Jessica Harrison-Hall，《Chinese Ceramics: Highlights of the Sir Percival David Collection》，倫敦，2009年，圖版27。Alexander Pope於<An Early Ming Porcelain in Muslim Style>討論此器形及紋飾之伊斯蘭來源。
本瓶出自Robert C. Bruce收藏，後者並收藏兩件抱月瓶例，尺寸及紋飾相近，其一為釉裏紅兼施紅料例，載於Soame Jenyns，《Later Chinese Porcelain》，倫敦，1951年，圖版LXXXVI，圖1b，售於香港蘇富比1979年11月28日，編號223，其二為釉裏紅例，與本瓶非常相近，售於倫敦蘇富比1953年5月12日，編號133，現藏於達勒姆Gulbenkian Museum of Oriental Art and Archaeology。
再比一例，出自敏求精社展覽《中國陶瓷雅集》，香港藝術館，香港，1980年，編號118；另一例圖載於John Ayers，《Chinese Ceramics in The Baur Collection》，卷2，日内瓦，1999年，圖版201；尚有兩例，售於香港蘇富比，其一售於1999年11月1日，編號370；其二出自利國偉爵士收藏，售於2018年10月3日，編號113。