A fine and rare small blue and white barbed dish, Ming dynasty, Yongle period | 明永樂　青花花卉紋菱花式小盤

Collection of George Eumorfopoulos (1863-1939), coll. no. C.151.

Collection of Mr and Mrs Alfred Clark, coll. no. 797.

Spink & Son Ltd, London, 1974.

Collection of T.Y. Chao (1912-1999), Hong Kong.

Collection of T.Y. Chao Family Trust, no. 17.

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 1st November 1999, lot 314.

Mayuyama & Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

Acquired from the above in 1999.

Blue and White Porcelain from the Collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, Spink & Son Ltd, London, 1974, cat. no. 7.

Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1978, cat. no. 18.

Chugoku Toji Meihin Ten Ise Korekushon no Shiho / Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramic Art Exhibition, Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Ishikawa, 2012, cat. no. 47. 

Ise Korekushon Sekai wo Miryoshita Chugokutoji / The Enchanting Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 2017, cat. no. 42.

Toujikyokai Kaiin Gentei Dainikai Tokubetsu Kanshokai Ise collection Chugoku Toji To, Hokuso, Nanso, Gen, Min, Shin [Special Exhibition for the members of The Japan Ceramic Society, Part 2, Chinese Porcelains from Ise Collection; Tang, Northern Song, Southern Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing], Japan Ceramic Society, Tokyo, 2019, unillustrated.

Chugoku Toji. Ise Korekushon / Chinese Ceramics. The Ise Collection, Tokyo, 2012, pp. 58-59.

Tosetsu / A Monthly Journal Published by the Japan Ceramic Society, vol. 803, March 2020, pl. 5.

This dish shows the exquisite beauty and superior quality of blue-and-white porcelain from the Yongle period (1403-1424), considered the pinnacle of underglaze cobalt blue decoration. Under court supervision, the imperial porcelain kilns at Jingdezhen significantly enhanced their production techniques, transitioning from the more erratic processes of the preceding Hongwu reign (1368-1398) to a reliable standard with a distinct identity, leading to highly revered ceramic wares.

The dish exemplifies Yongle blue-and-white characteristics perfectly: it features a bluish glaze tint, bright cobalt blue decoration, and the distinctive 'heaping and piling' effect where iron-rich pigment fires through the glaze to create blackish spots. The barbed shape and the painted floral design are typical of this era, representing enhancements over the Hongwu prototypes.

The Yongle period saw a softening in the form of the dish, with a broader, thinner rim compared to the sharp, angular designs of the Hongwu period. The decoration became livelier and less formal, with dynamic floral patterns like the gracefully painted peonies and swirling lotus sprays on this dish, underscored by a floral border that adds to the sense of flourishment. Compare a Hongwu example with the style, in Palace Museum, Beijing , illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the reign of Hongwu and Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2015, pl. 31.

Compare two dishes of this design, Yongle period, featuring small floral sprigs, create a distinct visual effect. One, from the collections of Richard Bryant Hobart and F. Gordon Morrill, was exhibited at the William Hayes Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, and sold in these rooms on 12th December 1969, lot 254 and later sold at Doyle, New York, 16th September 2003, lot 80. The other was sold in our Hong Kong rooms on 1st November 1999, lot 314. Another highly related dish, once part of Captain and Mrs. Ferris Luboshez's collection, was included in the 1972 Exhibition of Chinese Art at the University of Maryland Art Gallery and has been sold three times in these rooms: 16th November 1973, lot 137; 29th November 1977, lot 24; and 15th May 1990, lot 21 and is featured in Sotheby’s Hong Kong – Twenty Years, 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 70. Another dish from the collections of A.D. Brankston, Mrs. W.H. Roberts, and T.Y. Chao was sold in our London rooms on 30th March 1978, lot 23 175 and again in Hong Kong on 19th May 1987, lot 239. Compare also a highly close dish with waves on the edge, sold in our New York rooms, 20 March 2018, lot 108.

A dish with similar design, housed in the Palace Museum, Taipei, was featured in the 2017 exhibition "Pleasingly Pure and Lustrous: Porcelains from the Yongle Reign (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty," and is detailed in the catalogue, p. 60. It is displayed alongside a small bracket-lobed cup on p.61, which may have been used in conjunction with such dishes. Another dish of this design from the Xuande period resides in the Shanghai Museum, which is illustrated by Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan cangpin yanjiu daxi/Studies of the Shanghai Museum Collections: A Series of Monographs. Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 1-23.

來源

喬治・尤莫弗普勒斯（1863-1939年）收藏，收藏編號C.151

克拉克伉儷收藏，收藏編號797

斯賓克，倫敦，1974年

趙從衍（1912-1999年）收藏，香港

趙從衍家族基金會收藏，編號17

香港蘇富比1999年11月1日，編號314

繭山龍泉堂，東京

1999年購自上述來源

展覽

《Blue and White Porcelain from the Collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark》，Spink & Son Ltd，倫敦，1974年，編號7

《Ming And Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation》，香港藝術館，香港，1978年，編號18

《中国陶磁名品展―イセコレクションの至宝》，石川縣立美術館，石川，2012年，編號47

《イセコレクション―世界を魅了した中国陶磁》，大阪市立東洋陶瓷美術館，大阪，2017年，編號42

《陶磁協会会員限定 第二回特別観賞会 イセコレクション 中国陶磁 唐、北宋、南宋、元、明、清》，日本陶磁協会，東京，2019年，沒載圖

出版

《中国陶磁―イセコレクション》，東京，2012年，頁58至59

《陶説》，803期，2020年3月，圖版5

此盤堪稱永樂青花瓷之典範，完美展現了明代永樂年間（1403-1424年）青花工藝的巔峰成就。在宮廷嚴格監督下，景德鎮御窰廠製瓷工藝取得重大突破，較之洪武時期（1368-1398年）的粗獷風格，永樂青花已形成獨特的藝術語言與穩定的品質標準。

本品集永樂青花特徵於一身：釉面泛青，鈷料發色明艷，並呈現典型的「鐵鏽斑」－富含鐵質的青料在燒製過程中滲透釉層，形成獨特的黑褐色斑點。其菱口造型與纏枝花卉紋飾皆為永樂時期典型特徵，較洪武原型更為精進。永樂時期的盤器形制較為柔和，口沿較洪武時期較為寬薄舒展。紋飾風格也趨於靈動，如此盤所繪牡丹與纏枝蓮紋婉轉流暢，輔以小朵花卉紋邊飾，整體構圖層次豐富。可比較一件洪武青花盤之風格， 北京故宮博物院藏，見《明代洪武永樂御窰瓷器》，北京，2015年，編號31。

與本件相近可資比較者包括：理查德·布萊恩特·霍巴特與F·戈登·莫里爾舊藏一例，曾展於哈佛大學威廉·海斯·福格藝術博物館，後於1969年12月12日在香港蘇富比釋出, 編號254，復於2003年9月16日經紐約Doyle拍賣，編號80；另一例於1999年11月1日售於香港蘇富比，編號314號。費里斯·盧博謝茲上校夫婦舊藏一例亦資參考，曾參展1972年馬裡蘭大學美術館「中國藝術展」，並三度經香港蘇富比易手：1973年11月16日，編號137、1977年11月29日，編號24、1990年5月15日，編號21，載於《香港蘇富比二十週年（1973-1993）》，圖版70。另有A.D.布蘭克斯頓、W.H.羅伯茲夫人及趙從衍遞藏一例，1978年3月30日於倫敦蘇富比釋出，編號23，後於1987年5月19日在香港蘇富比再次轉手，編號239。紐約蘇富比售出一件可做比較，惟盤緣飾水波紋，2018年，3月20日，編號108。

台北故宮博物院藏一盤，紋飾相近，曾展出於2017年「適於心－明代永樂皇帝的瓷器」特展，著錄於展覽圖錄，頁60，並與一件可能配套使用的葵口小盃並列展示，見同書，頁61。上海博物館藏宣德時期同類作例一件，見陸明華，《上海博物館藏品研究大系：明代官窯瓷器》，上海，2007年，圖版1-23。