An exceptionally rare and superbly painted blue and white 'dragon and peony' jar, Yuan dynasty | 元　青花纏枝牡丹雲龍紋大罐

Sotheby’s London, 15th April 1980, lot 233.

John Sparks Ltd., London.

The present guan jar is an extraordinary relic from the birth of blue-and-white porcelain. Featuring a pair of resplendent dragons above a peony bloom viewed from six perspectives, the present jar is decorated in dramatic underglaze blue with an incredible precision and creative flair unparalleled in the centuries to follow.

Divided at its widest point, the jar tells two parallel stories of heaven and earth. Adorning the shoulder, whirling through the clouds, the present pair of dragons represents the rarest and most extraordinary feature of this jar. With four fearsome claws, fluttering hair unfurling from their scaly legs and gnarled antler-like horns, the present dragons are typical of the few dragon designs attested from this period of artistic experimentation but bolder and more dramatically rendered than most. Already long celebrated in the Chinese tradition as symbols of good fortune and power, Yuan dynasty dragons were rendered interchangeably with three and four claws and feature on but a select few iconic extant examples. Compare two related four-clawed dragons, alongside similar waves and peony scrolls, adorning the famous ‘David Vases’ dated in accordance with 1351, now preserved in the British Museum, London (accession nos PDF,B.613 and 614).

The lower ‘earthly’ section, depicting a peony bloom, represents one of the most beloved and well-attested designs for a jar of this type. Divided by richly ‘inked’ scrolling foliage, this peony appears to open and unfurl as the jar is rotated in one’s hand, in a conspicuous nod to the painted handscroll and a testament to the artistic freedom and brilliance of the early Jingdezhen potters. Compare a small number of similar and extraordinary jars featuring prominent peony designs, including a related jar, also from the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, sold for more than twenty-seven million Hong Kong dollars in these rooms, 29th October 2024, lot 613.

This playful design, largely abandoned by the mid-fifteenth century, underscores how groundbreaking the advent of cobalt must have been to the Yuan potters. Allowing artisans to apply decoration like ink on paper and embrace the brilliant white of the porcelain body as a canvas for their creativity, the arrival of cobalt pigments in China fundamentally changed the future of Chinese – and world – ceramics forever. While similar floral and dragon designs had developed in the preceding dynasties, moulded or carved in relief, this brave new world of delicate, variegated painting would soon become an obsession for the imperial court and potters alike, striving to produce the finest decorations in the most enchanting of blues. 

To date, no other jars of this dynamic dragon design appear to be known. Indeed, jars from this period featuring a dragon in any configuration are exceedingly rare. For similar guan featuring dragons at the shoulder above a peony scroll, compare a closely related damaged example with three-clawed dragons and a floral scroll to the neck, excavated from Jingdezhen in 1986 and preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing in Porcelains of Yuan Dynasty Collected by the Palace Museum, vol. I, Beijing, 2016, pl. 6; a second very similar guan but for a chrysanthemum scroll at the neck and classic scroll below the peonies, reconstructed from shards in Zhang Qingyu, ed., Blue-and-White Porcelains of Yuan Dynasty, Beijing, 2017, p. 14; a larger handled jar with forward- and backward-looking dragons, excavated from the Gao’an Hoard (dated no earlier than 1314 CE), included in Splendors in Smalt. Art of Yuan Blue-and-White Porcelain, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2012, pl. 61; another larger example of related design sold at Christie's Tokyo, 27 May 1969, lot 179, later in the Ataka Collection, illustrated in The Panoramic Views of Chinese Patterns, Japan, 1985, col. pl. 9; and another with four-clawed dragons separated from peonies by ruyi-shaped lappets, preserved in the Ottoman Court and illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, vol. II, London, 1986, pl. 586.

來源

倫敦蘇富比1980年4月15日， 編號233

John Sparks Ltd.，倫敦

本罐見證青花瓷之始，釉下青花描寫雙龍相逐，矯健颯爽，牡丹風華，六姿端麗。畫工精妙高超，張力十足，靈動萌發，生氣盎然，後世難以匹敵。

罐腹最寬處，一分為二，天上人間，兩相輝映。器肩綴雙龍遊嬉卷雲間，此紋飾珍稀罕見，可謂本罐最為特出之紋飾。四爪利銳，龍鱗健足，龍鬚飄揚，龍角崢嶸，展現當朝典型特徵，猶更壯麗懾人。龍紋向來象徵權力、地位，元代可見三爪、四爪者，但存世之例寥寥。比較盛名遠播的「大維德瓶」之四爪龍，同飾海浪、纏枝牡丹紋，紀年1351年，現存倫敦大英博物館（館藏編號：PDF,B.613、PDF,B.614）。

器腹下段的「人間」，綴纏枝牡丹紋，乃此類青花罐最廣得喜愛的紋飾。盛放嬌蕊，爭妍鬥豔，間以纖細柔軟的枝葉相連，環視彷若時而花開，時而微掩，觸動人心，畫藝妙絕，彰顯景德鎮匠人造詣之高。參考相類牡丹紋例，同為坂本五郎舊藏一青花牡丹紋罐，2024年10月29日售於香港蘇富比，編號613。

如此饒富趣味之紋飾設計，十四世紀中期之後幾無復見，更突顯當時的新媒材鈷藍，為元代瓷藝帶來前所未見之審美刺激與火花，首次可以於瓷器上作畫，瓷面如紙，鈷藍為墨，運用青花酣暢淋漓展現畫藝。青花瓷之燒造，徹底改變了中國以至於世界的陶瓷史。前朝已得類同本品之龍紋、纏枝花卉紋，多以模印、刻花作於陶瓷上，然而嶄新的青花技法，精緻華美，風靡全國，朝廷與窰人皆同，致力於燒造出最濃艷細膩的青花瓷。

存世未見與本品龍紋相似元代青花罐，其他綴有龍紋之罐亦稀如晨星。如北京故宮博物院藏一殘例，綴三爪龍紋，頸部飾纏枝花卉紋，1986年出土於景德鎮，錄於《故宮博物院藏元代瓷器》，卷1，北京，2016年，圖版6；另一例為破片重建，罐頸繪纏枝菊紋，牡丹紋下綴回紋，刊於張慶玉編，《元青花》，北京，2017年，頁14；一尺寸更大作例，帶鋪首，作游龍紋與回首龍紋，出土於高安窖藏，紀年1314年，載於《幽藍神采：元代青花瓷器特集》，上海博物館，上海，2012年，圖版61；安宅一件類例，尺寸也較大，曾售於東京佳士得，1969年5月27日，編號179，出版於《展開写真による中国の文様》，東京，1985年，彩圖版9；鄂圖曼宮廷舊藏一見青花罐作四爪龍紋，以如意雲紋相隔下層牡丹紋，刊載於康蕊君，《托普卡比博物館藏中國陶瓷全集》，卷2，倫敦，1986年，圖版586。