A FINE AND SUPERBLY ENAMELLED PAIR OF DOUCAI 'EIGHT IMMORTALS' BOWLS MARKS AND PERIOD OF YONGZHENG | 清雍正 鬪彩八仙過海盌一對 《大清雍正年製》款

Collection of Chutaro Nakano (1862-1939), Niigata, acquired in the early 20th century.

Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st May 2010, lot 1876.

An Asian family collection.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7th October 2015, lot 3637.

中野忠太郎（1862-1939年）收藏， 新潟縣，二十世紀初入藏

香港佳士得2010年5月31日，編號1876

亞洲家族收藏

香港蘇富比2015年10月7日，編號3637

Exquisitely painted with the Eight Daoist Immortals dressed in billowing robes illustrated crossing the rough sea after attending the Peach Festival of the Queen Mother of the West, these bowls testify to the great developments in porcelain production during the Yongzheng period. The precision of the cobalt pencilled lines and shading captured on the robes of the immortals reveals the refinement of the porcelain and the craftsmen’s mastery over techniques and materials as a direct result of the Emperor’s keen patronage.

Bowls of this type are rare and only three other pairs of bowls are known: one pair was sold in these rooms, 20th November 1984, lot 501; another pair was sold at Christie’s London, 4th December 1995, lot 153; and the third pair was sold twice at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st October 1994, lot 617, and again, 29th May 2007, lot 1462. This motif is also known painted in underglaze blue only, such as a bowl, from the Agatha and Irving Aronson collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 21st-22nd March 2013, lot 1473; and another, but the interior roundel depicting Shoulao and his deer, from the collection of Sir Harry Garner, illustrated in Soame Jenyns, Later Chinese Porcelain, London, 1971, pl. LX.

The polychrome (doucai) colour scheme, where the outline is drawn in underglaze blue and filled with washes of underglaze blue and four different overglaze enamels, gained popularity with the Chenghua Emperor. The term doucai, which refers to the interaction of the colours (cai), is ambiguous since the term dou allows for the colours to be characterised as clashing or matching. Terms such as ‘contrasting’, ‘contending’, ‘interlocking’, ‘joined’, and ‘dove-tailed’ have been suggested as translations, the most satisfactory rendering perhaps being ‘completion of colours’ as used by Fang Chaoying in his biographical entry on the Chenghua Emperor in Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368-1644, New York, 1976, p. 302.

The doucai style is ideally suited for rendering this scene of the Eight Immortals. A perfect harmony of delicately pencilled underglaze-blue lines with vivid blocks of iron red, yellow, green and aubergine endow the scene with a sense of ethereality which is fitting to the subject. Furthermore, the doucai style, which was originally probably referred to as wucai, ‘five colours’, and the clouds surrounding the immortals carry further symbolic meaning. ‘Rainbow-coloured’ or five-coloured clouds (wuse yun) are considered highly auspicious portends of good omens. According to Therese Tse Bartholomew, in Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art, San Francisco, 2006, p. 105, clouds (yun) are used as a pun on the word ‘fortune’ and are considered benevolent because of their power to supply water. As seen on the present pair of bowls, auspicious rainbow-coloured clouds are often depicted in lingzhi (longevity fungus) shape, and the lingzhi itself has the form of the wish-granting ruyi (‘according to your wish’) sceptre. As Heir Apparent, the Yongzheng Emperor had himself portrayed in clay wearing a coat with five-coloured roundels over a cloud-decorated robe.

The clouds swirling between each Immortal indicates that this scene illustrates the story whereby they combined their powers to sail past the tempest rather than travelling by their clouds. The proverb is a lesson on how individual strengths and gifts can together be used to tackle the same obstacle. This image grew in popularity after the Yongzheng reign and was rendered in various different palettes; for example see a pair of Daoguang mark and period puce and underglaze-blue decorated rounded bowls, from the Edward T. Chow collection, sold in these rooms, 19th May 1981, lot 530; and an exquisite pair of famille-rose decorated jars and covers, with Qianlong reign marks and of the period, sold twice at Christie’s Hong Kong, 31st March 1992, lot 656, 1st May 1995, lot 675, and again in our New York rooms, 17th March 2009, lot 124. See also a doucai bowl of larger size and broader foot decorated with the Eight Immortals depicted in a landscape, sold in these rooms, 29th October 1991, lot 208.

此對鬪彩盌所繪八仙，身著飄帶仙袍，赴王母蟠桃盛宴而歸，神態悠然，刻畫入微，展現雍正年間御瓷之精益求精，巧工妙製。釉下鈷青勾勒渾染，精準恰宜，盡現仙家袍服飄逸。如非有皇命大興瓷燒，難集細煉瓷土、巧工藝匠，成就如此佳飾雅瓷。 對盌極罕，目前已知相似者，僅見三例，一例售於香港蘇富比1984年11月20日，編號501；第二例售於倫敦佳士得1995年12月4日，編號153；第三例曾兩度售於香港佳士得，分別於1994年10月31日，編號617；及2007年5月59日，編號1462。另有青花類例，如 Agatha and Irving Aronson 伉儷舊藏，售於紐約佳士得2013年3月21-22日，編號1473。另比較一例，盌內繪壽星瑞鹿圖案，為迦納爵士雅藏，錄於詹甯斯，《Later Chinese Porcelain》，倫敦，1971年，圖版LX。

此對盌，巧思細作。以鈷青輪廓與明豔鐵紅、黃、綠、紫彩完美相合，輕盈靈動，與八仙主題高度契合。鬪彩瓷，創燒於明成化一朝，康熙時得以復興，雍正年間，工藝尤精。據成書於雍正年間之《南窰筆記》所云，鬪彩乃「青料畫其半體，復入彩料，湊其全體」。雍正曾仿摹成化鬪彩，而樣式亦有創新，此一對鬪彩盌，即屬雍正推陳出新之作。

青花作勾勒，滿填礬紅、黃、綠、紫彩，顏色搭配巧妙，不似在人間，是以鬪彩繪八仙，尤為合適。鬪彩，原為五彩之屬，盌上所飾彩色卷雲，遂又稱五色祥雲，是為禎符嘉兆，雲，濟世雨水之源也，音又近於運，有信能帶來佳運，見謝瑞華，《中國吉祥圖案》，三藩市，2006年，頁105。如對盌所見，祥雲常取靈芝之形，寓如意長壽。雍正帝為顯其正統，曾命製泥塑像，內穿杏黃地雲紋吉服袍，外罩石青地四團五彩雲紋吉服褂。

盌上所繪八仙，騰雲駕霧，相伴相隨，逆流而進。此一題材，自雍正帝以降日益流行，且紋飾著色趨於豐富。可比一對清道光胭脂紅青花八仙圖盌，道光年製款，仇焱之舊藏，售於香港蘇富比1981年5月19日，編號530。另見一對清乾隆粉彩八仙圖蓋罐，乾隆年製款，曾兩度售於香港佳士得，分別為1992年3月31日，編號656；及1995年5月1日，編號675，後再售於紐約蘇富比2009年3月17日，編號124。再比一鬪彩大盌，尺寸與底足皆大於本品，同飾八仙，卻不騰雲駕霧，售於香港蘇富比1991年10月29日，編號208。