A fine and rare blue and white four-handled meiping, Qing dynasty, Yongzheng period | 清雍正 青花三清蝴蝶紋四繫梅瓶

Collection of Edward T. Chow.

Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4th May 1994, lot 163.

Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2006, lot 1537.

Julian Thompson, The Alan Chuang Collection of Chinese Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2009, pl. 35.

Vases of this slender baluster form, characterised by a short, wide neck, four loop handles, and a distinctive deep footring pierced with two horizontal slots, are exceptionally rare. The superb quality of the porcelain and the vivid underglaze blue pigment indicate that this meiping is a product of the imperial kilns. The bold, forceful, and painterly rendering of the ancient prunus tree is highly unusual and closely akin to the decorative styles found on Kangxi blue and white wares, suggesting a late Kangxi to early Yongzheng attribution.

The dynamic composition features an ancient prunus tree with its bent trunk overhanging a jagged rock from which a blooming peony grows. The reverse is delicately painted with a smaller prunus, bamboo stems, and two butterflies flying overhead, all framed by neat line borders at the base of the neck, inside the ring of handles, and around the foot. This motif imbues the vessel with profound auspicious significance. The prunus heralds spring and resilience, the peony represents wealth and honour, and the bamboo signifies integrity. Furthermore, the two butterflies symbolise marital bliss and longevity. The combination of butterflies hovering amongst blooming flowers was a highly popular motif for weddings, suggesting this magnificent vase may have been presented on a marriage.

Other than the present vase, very few examples of this type are recorded. A similar meiping, formerly in the Jarras Collection, was sold in our London rooms, 9th June 1987, lot 261, and again at Christie's Hong Kong, 8th October 1990, lot 340. A pair of similar vases was also sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 28th November 1990, lot 164.

The rare four-handled form appears to have inspired a subsequent group of Yongzheng meiping characterised by a longer neck and three small loop-handles around the shoulder. Compare a robin's egg-glazed example of this three-handled type in the Nanjing Museum, included in the exhibition Qing Imperial Porcelain, Art Gallery, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1995, cat. no. 38; and a celadon-glazed example sold in these rooms, 7th May 2002, lot 510.

來源

仇焱之收藏

香港蘇富比1994年5月4日，編號163

香港佳士得2006年11月28日，編號1537

出版

朱湯生，《中國瓷器：莊紹綏收藏》，香港，2009年，圖版35

此四繫耳梅瓶器形修長挺拔，短粗頸，唇口，肩飾四繫耳，高圈足具雙長方穿孔，形制極為罕見。其胎骨細膩，青花發色濃豔，應為官窯定燒。瓶身以豪放蒼勁之筆觸繪就，畫風奔放，與康熙青花之裝飾風格一脈相承，具備康熙晚期至雍正初期之時代特徵。

其構圖生動有力，蒼梅虯枝橫斜於怪石之上，石間傲綻牡丹一株；背面則繪小梅、修竹，並有雙蝶翩翩飛舞於其間。頸部、繫耳內側及足際均飾以弦紋。此紋飾蘊含深厚之吉祥寓意：梅花傲雪迎春，牡丹象徵富貴榮華，修竹寓意高風亮節。畫中點綴之雙蝶，更象徵婚姻美滿與長壽。繁花似錦與雙蝶相映成趣，乃傳統婚慶之經典紋飾，極有可能是為慶祝重要大婚而特製之賀禮。

翻查公私收藏，同類器物寥若晨星。一例與本品極為相似之梅瓶，為Jarras 舊藏，先後售於倫敦蘇富比1987年6月9日，編號261，及香港佳士得1990年10月8日，編號340。另有一對相似之作，售於香港蘇富比1990年11月28日，編號164。

此種獨特四繫耳器形，應該為雍正朝後期另一種頸部較長、肩飾「三」繫耳之梅瓶提供了原型。參考南京博物院藏一爐鈞釉三繫耳梅瓶例，曾展於香港中文大學文物館展覽，見《清代御窯瓷器》，香港，1995年，編號38；以及一粉青釉例，售於香港蘇富比2002年5月7日，編號510。