A VERY RARE PAIR OF IMPERIAL INSCRIBED FAMILLE-ROSE 'TEA POEM' BOWLS AND COVERS SEAL MARKS AND PERIOD OF JIAQING | 清嘉慶 粉彩綠地御製「煮茗」詩蓋盌一對 《大清嘉慶年製》款

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20th May 1980, lot 237.

An Asian private collection.

Christie's Hong Kong, 30th May 2012, lot 4001.

香港蘇富比1980年5月20日，編號237

亞洲私人收藏

香港佳士得2012年5月30日，編號4001

This pair of bowls is extremely rare, the inscription delicately inscribed on a pristine white ground within enamelled borders, and only one other closely related pair is known, sold in our London rooms, 10th November 2010, lot 297. For a single bowl and cover of this type, but decorated with floral scroll borders and possibly from another set, is illustrated in Qingdai ciqi shangjian [Appreciation of Qing dynasty porcelain], Shanghai, 1994, p. 202, pl. 259, from the Shanghai Wenwu Shangdian. Dated to the dingsi year of Jiaqing’s reign (corresponding to 1797), this poem was written by the Jiaqing Emperor to express his enjoyment of tea. Stephen W. Bushell, in Oriental Ceramic Art, London, 1981, p. 239, translates the poem on the bowls as follows:

Finest tribute tea of the first picking

And a bright full moon prompt a line of verse.

A lively fire glows in the bamboo stove.

The water is boiling in the stone griddle,

Small bubbles rise like ears of fish or crab.

Of rare Ch’i-ch’iang tea, rolled in tony balls.

One cup is enough to lighten the heart,

And dissipate the early winter chill.

This poem adorned a variety of teawares; for a teapot and lobed dish, similarly enamelled on a lime-green ground, but with floral scrolls, in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see the Museum’s exhibition Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds. The Culture, Practice and Art of Tea, 2001, cat. nos. 169 and 170, together with a ruby-ground lobed dish, cat. no. 171.

Bowls of this type were created under the Qianlong Emperor who was also particularly fond of tea-drinking. He is recorded to have made tea with freshly fallen snow on his return from visiting Mount Wutai. Made with Longjing tea leaves, prunus blossoms, pine nut kernels and finger citrus, the brew inspired Qianlong to compose a poem in praise of the tea, entitled Sanqing cha [Three purities tea], which was inscribed onto tea vessels of various media, including porcelain, lacquer and jade; for example, see a spinach green jade bowl, the poem carved and picked out in gold, sold in our New York rooms, 26th February 1982, lot 471, and again in these rooms, 8th April 2013, lot 3009; and a blue and white example included in the Special Exhibition of K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, cat. no. 142.

蓋面、盌外壁墨彩書：

佳茗頭綱貢，澆詩必月團。竹罏添活火，石銚沸驚湍。魚蟹眼徐颺，旗槍影細攢。一甌清興足，春盎避輕寒。嘉慶丁已小春月之中澣御製。鈐「嘉」、「慶」天圓地方朱印。

同類的蓋盌在傳世品中少見，非常珍罕。傳世品共著錄只五件，除本對外，一件單盌為上海文物商店所藏，見《清代瓷器鑑賞》，上海，1994年，圖259。另有一對，售於倫敦蘇富比2010年11月10日，編號297。

此對蓋盌小巧別緻，敞口、斜腹、圈足。裝飾清雅簡潔，口沿施金彩，器外壁上下繪飾粉彩描金夔龍壽字紋一周，取代常見的如意雲頭紋，彰顯出嘉慶朝的時代特色。中間留白處以墨書寫嘉慶皇帝御題詩文，描繪深秋寒夜皇帝品覽新茶之情景。底款篆法精美，蓋部裝飾亦然，上下一致。所書御製茶詩齊整均衡排列，書體為清隽規整之館閣體小楷，筆畫工整隽秀，書寫一絲不茍，胎釉潔白細膩，粉彩婉約雅致，金彩純正妍俏、清新。溫和蘊含富麗，沉穩中亦不失和諧，極盡考究之能事，尤顯雍容高雅、令人賞心悅目、愛不釋手，此器亦可當文房重器，又是瓷器中少有成對罕見精品，實為嘉慶皇帝御製品茗之極品雅器。

嘉慶皇帝自幼深受乾隆皇帝的影響，一生鍾情茗茶，以致有清一代，於官窰瓷器上書寫御製詩文為飾僅見其父子二人。乾隆者所作御製詩文裝飾于多種器形之上，且入飾的詩文數目廣多，而嘉慶者僅見於茶具（茶壺、茶杯、茶盤），詩文數量也只是一首，本品正是其中最為珍罕的一例。嘉慶皇帝有清晨飲茶的習慣，也喜歡御窰燒製的題詩茶具。他通過此盌上的詩，表達了他對宮廷御造新茶極為褒賞的感受，更分享了他煮茶、觀茶、品茶的經過。嘉慶皇帝品茶、御題茶詩的習慣，應來自他父親乾隆皇帝。