A yellow-ground underglaze-blue 'lotus' double-gourd vase, Mark and period of Jiajing | 明嘉靖 黃地青花纏枝蓮紋葫蘆瓶 《大明嘉靖年製》款

Collection of W. A. Evill (1890-1963)

Sotheby's London, 16th-17th December 1980, lot 634.

Hong Rui Tang Collection.

Sotheby's London, 5th December 1995, lot 406 (cover lot).

Eskenazi Ltd, London.

Marchant, London, 31st March 1999. 

Collection of Bruce (1918-2015) and Ruth Stricker (1935-2020) Dayton.

Sotheby’s New York, 21st September 2021, lot 83.

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W. A. Evill (1890-1963) 收藏

倫敦蘇富比，1980年12月16-17日，編號634

泓瑞堂收藏

倫敦蘇富比，1995年12月5日，編號406

埃斯肯納齊，倫敦

馬錢特，倫敦，1999年3月31日

Bruce (1918-2015) 及Ruth Stricker (1935-2020)代頓伉儷收藏

紐約蘇富比，2021年9月21，編號83

Two Hundred Years of Chinese Porcelain 1522-1722, S. Marchant & Son, London, 1998, cat. no. 1.

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《Two Hundred Years of Chinese Porcelain 1522-1722》，馬錢特，倫敦，1998年，編號1

Carried by Daoist immortals, double-gourds were believed to contain elixirs of immortality. As such, vases in this form are closely associated with Daoism and reflect the Jiajing Emperor's devotion to the religion. Compare a closely related vase of this type preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 91.1.379), illustrated by Suzanne G. Valenstein in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Greatest Collections, vol. 11: Metropolitan Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1981, col. pl. 21; and another sold twice in our London rooms, on 17th December 1980, lot 634, and again on 5th December 1995, lot 406.

For a variation of this vase with iron-red blossoms, compare a pair in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pls 9:88 and 9:89; and another, with analogous decoration and additional iron-red, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Greatest Collections, vol. 6: Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Tokyo, 1982, col. pl. 41.

葫蘆在道教文化中意義非凡，常為神仙所持，被認為內藏長生不老之仙丹。故而，葫蘆形器皿與道教淵源深厚，亦反映出嘉靖皇帝對道教的虔誠信仰。紐約大都會藝術博物館藏有一件相類型的葫蘆瓶（館藏編號91.1.379），曾由 Suzanne G. Valenstein 著錄於《東方陶瓷全集》卷11，《紐約大都會藝術博物館》，1982年，圖版21。另有一例於倫敦蘇富比拍場兩度釋出，分別為1980年12月17日，拍品編號634，以及1995年12月5日，拍品編號406。

英國大英博物館亦藏有一對礬紅彩花卉紋葫蘆瓶，著錄於 Jessica Harrison-Hall 編《Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum》，倫敦，2001年，圖版9:88與9:89。另見一例飾以礬紅彩紋飾相似者，錄於Medley 著錄於《東方陶瓷全集》卷6，1982年，《大維德基金會中國藝術珍藏》，圖版41。