A large carved Longquan celadon chrysanthemum yenyen vase, Early Ming dynasty | 明初 龍泉青釉刻纏枝菊花紋鳳尾尊

Sotheby's London, 29th March 1977, lot 243.

Eskenazi Ltd, London, 18th November 1992.

Collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong.

Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1993-94.

National Gallery of Australia, Parkes, on loan, 1st September 1998 - 5th May 2001.

The University Museum of Art, Hong Kong University, Hong Kong, on loan, 2001-2002.

Towering at over sixty-five centimeters, crisply carved with grand floral designs, the present vase is a rare and superlative example of the imposing baluster ‘temple vases’ produced in the Yuan and early Ming dynasties. Unlike the more minimalist designs produced at the Longquan kilns in the Southern Song dynasty, by the Yuan dynasty, imperial patrons and noble benefactors had begun to demand increasingly complex and creative designs. These designs – from stiff leaf borders to swirling floral scrolls – found their origin in the blue and white wares of the nascent porcelain kilns of Jingdezhen but were soon incorporated and perfected in Longquan as well. Whether all of these vases were indeed intended for temple use, as attested inscribed examples may suggest, or not; it is clear that these grand and magnificent vessels occupied an important position in the visual language of the Ming officialdom.

The present vase is exceedingly rare in its prominent use of chrysanthemum scrollwork on its shoulder. Compare another large vases of this type with chrysanthema to the shoulder, from the same collection, originally sold in our New York rooms, 23rd October 1976, lot 233, later included in Gems of Chinese Art: Selections of Chinese Ceramics and Bronzes from the Tsui Art Foundation, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1992, cat. no. 68. Also compare a number of important examples of this type but with more common peony scrolls at the shoulder including a closely related vase inscribed with a date equivalent to 1454, preserved in the collection of Sir Percival David, now in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Section 7, London, 1997, pl. 238; another, with peonies on a combed ground, illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 231; and a third in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 188.

來源

倫敦蘇富比1977年3月29日，編號243

埃斯肯納齊，1992年11月18日

徐氏藝術館收藏，香港

展覽

徐氏藝術館，香港，1993-1994年

澳洲國立美術館，派克斯，借展，1998年9月1日-2001年5月5日

香港大學美術博物館，香港，借展，2001-2002年

此鳳尾尊高逾六十五公分，器身以淩厲刀工雕琢繁麗纏枝花卉，實為元至明初所製鳳尾尊中稀世卓絕之典範。相較於南宋龍泉窰素淨之風，元代皇室貴冑已開始追求愈趨繁複創新的紋飾設計，無論是挺括的蕉葉紋邊飾，或盤繞的纏枝花卉，此類紋樣雖肇始於景德鎮新興的青花器，然其工藝體系不久亦為龍泉窰所吸納並臻於至善。無論此類器物是否真如帶銘文者所示專供寺廟所用，顯然它們在明代官製器物的樣式中佔據重要地位。

此鳳尾尊之珍罕，尤顯於肩部醒目的菊花卷草紋。可資比照者，見同一藏家舊藏另一件肩飾菊紋大瓶，曾售於紐約1976年10月23日，編號233，後收錄於《文物粹珍 : 徐氏藝術基金藏陶瓷青銅器選》，新加坡皇后坊博物館，1992年，圖錄編號68。另可對比數件同型制但飾以常見牡丹纏枝紋的重要作品：一件刻有1454年紀年銘文的相近例藏於大維德爵士舊藏（現貯倫敦大英博物館），見《大維德中國藝術基金會青瓷圖錄》第七部，倫敦，1997年，圖版238；另一件以蓖紋地為飾的牡丹紋瓶載於《世界陶磁全集》，卷14，東京，1976年，圖版231；第三例藏斯德哥爾摩東亞博物館，刊於《世界陶瓷大系·東方陶瓷》卷8，東京，1982年，圖版188。