A rare Longquan celadon carved documentary temple vase, Ming dynasty, Xuande period (AD 1432) | 明宣德 龍泉青釉刻纏枝蓮紋鳳尾尊

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5th November 1996, lot 648.

Collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, no. MME027.

Julian Thompson, 'Chinese Celadons', Arts of Asia, November-December 1993, p. 70, fig. 17.

This rare and important vase is said to have been made as a pair to another famous altar vase – now preserved with a reduced neck – from the collection of Sir Percival David, incised to the neck with a dedicatory inscription and date corresponding to the seventh year of the Xuande period (1432), included in Ming: 50 Years that Changed China, British Museum, London, 2014, fig. 198 and illustrated in Sheila Riddell, Dated Chinese Antiquities 600-1650, London, 1979, pl. 13, which remains one of the landmark publications for the dating of Ming celadon ware. These remarkable vases, likely dedicated at the same time, represent two examples of an important group of pieces commissioned for use in Buddhist and Daoist temples across the empire in the Yuan and early Ming dynasties.

Aside from the David Vase, no other closely related example of this specific design – with or without inscription – appears to be recorded. For other Longquan documentary vases of related form, compare a large Yuan dynasty example, also from the Percival David Collection in the British Museum, London, incised with sixty-one character inscription to the rim indicating that it was commissioned to hold flowers before the Buddha in the Great Hall of Ritual at the Juelin Temple dated to the dingmao year of the Taiding period (corresponding to 1327), extensively published including in the Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Section 7, London, 1997, pl. 237.

來源

香港蘇富比1996年11日，編號648

徐氏藝術館收藏，香港，編號MME027

出版

朱湯生，〈Chinese Celadons〉，《Arts of Asia》，1993年11-12月，頁70，圖版17

瓶頸刻十二字銘文：「兒者元、家門青、吉人口平安者」

此件稀世珍品據傳原為成對供奉之器，其姊妹作乃大維德爵士舊藏著名供瓶（本瓶頸部經修改），瓶頸刻有「宣德七年（1432年）」紀年銘文及獻供題記。該器曾展出于倫敦大英博物館《大明：改變中國的五十年》特展，2014年，圖錄198號，並收錄于薛好佩（Sheila Riddell）所著《紀年中國古物600-1650年》，倫敦，1979年，圖版13，至今仍是明代龍泉窰斷代研究的里程碑式著錄。這兩件供瓶很可能同期獻供，同屬元至明初為佛道寺觀定燒的重要器群代表。

除大維德供瓶外，迄今未見與此特殊紋樣設計（無論有無銘文）關聯的著錄實例。若論及形制相近的龍泉窰紀年供瓶，可參照倫敦大英博物館大維德基金會藏另一元代大型例證，該器口沿鐫61字銘文，明確記載為泰定丁卯年（1327年）覺林寺法堂佛前供花所製，載於《大維德中國藝術基金會青瓷圖錄》第七部，倫敦，1997年，圖版237等多部出版物。