A very rare cloisonné enamel vase, Ming dynasty, late 16th century | 明十六世紀末　掐絲琺瑯瑞師戲球圖藏草瓶

Acquired in France in the early 1900s and thence by descent in the family.

A Parisian private collection.

Sotheby's Paris, 22nd June 2017, lot 141.

Vases of this particular shape, which is believed to have been derived from a Tibetan kalasha vase, are rare and few examples are known in private and museum collections. The earliest recorded example of a cloisonné enamel vase of this form dated to the 15th century and decorated around the body with large lotus flowers, is in the Uldry Collection, Geneva, illustrated in Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinese Cloisonne. The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, col. pl. 9. Two other vases of this form but slightly smaller than the present example, one similarly decorated around the body with small lion-dogs, the other with rows of scrolling lotus flowers, both similarly applied with gilt-bronze dragon handles, are in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Metal-bodied Enamel Ware, Hong Kong, 2002, pls 35 and 37. Unlike the present vase, the second example has a gilt-metal base chased with a Jingtai mark and dated to the mid-Ming period. Finally, for vase of the same form but decorated with painted enamels and bearing a Yongzheng mark, see Enamel Ware in the Ming and Ch'ing Dynasties, Taipei, 1989, cat. no. 98. 

The design of lion dogs playfully engaging with each other is also unusual and can be found on a few rare examples dated to the mid-Ming Dynasty, among others on a rectangular tray, a cuspidor-shaped jar and a tripod censer, illustrated ibid., pls 21, 39 and 41. 

來源

1900年代購於法國，此後家族流傳

巴黎私人舊藏

巴黎蘇富比2017年6月22日，編號141

此特殊器形被認為源於藏傳佛教的寶瓶，存世極罕，公私收藏中均屬鳳毛麟角。目前已知最早的掐絲琺瑯實例為十五世紀作品，器身飾大型蓮花，藏於日內瓦伍爾德里收藏（Uldry Collection），圖見Helmut Brinker與Albert Lutz合著《Chinese Cloisonne. The Pierre Uldry Collection》，紐約，1989年，彩色圖版9。

台北故宮博物院藏有同形制但尺寸略小的兩例：一例器身飾小型獅犬，即獬豸或狻猊類瑞獸，另一例飾層疊蓮花卷草紋，雙耳均附青銅鎏金龍形柄，圖見《故宮珍品全集：金屬胎琺瑯器》，香港，2002年，圖版35、37。其中蓮花紋一件帶鎏金金屬圈足，底刻景泰偽款，斷代明中期，與本品不同。另見一形制相同但飾畫琺瑯且帶雍正款的例子，圖見《明清琺瑯器展》，台北，1989年，圖錄98號。

獅犬嬉戲的紋樣在明中期亦屬少見，僅見於個別稀有器類，如長方盤、渣斗及三足爐等，圖見前述伍爾德里圖錄圖版21、39、41。