I
met Mineo Hata for the first time two decades ago in Oimatsu-cho, Osaka’s antique district, in his charming gallery brimming with Buddhist fragments, ancient ceramics, antiquities of all sorts. I sat down with him in his first floor tea room surrounded by his entire family, we drank tea and thus began a friendship that I have enjoyed for the last twenty years. Mr Hata has always taken equal interest in presenting masterpieces, as he has in handling anecdotal objects and that capacity to appreciate charm and beauty across such a wide spectrum has kept his eye sharp, fresh and curious. My colleague Mizuka Seya and I were soon invited to Mineo Hata’s house in quaint Ashiya near Kobe and that is where that over the years him and his sons unveiled to us great treasures of Chinese art in the soft daylight of the veranda, often exceedingly rare and fine examples of early 15th-century imperial art. The early Ming dynasty remains one of the greatest periods, when the arts were infused with the vitality and strength of a dynasty on the rise and lavished with imperial patronage.
In 2010, on one of our visits to Ashiya, Mineo Hata presented us with a magnificent blue and white ewer from the Yongle period in the early Ming dynasty, decorated with a rare design of scrolling lotus centred on each side by ruyi-shaped cartouches. It was once owned by the industrialist and founder of Panasonic Konosuke Matsushita, who had acquired it through the celebrated dealership Mayuyama & Co. Few similar examples are known, one in the collection of the Ottoman sultans at the Topkapi Saray in Istanbul, and another two in the royal collection of the Safavid shahs at the Ardebil Shrine in Tehran. Mr Hata then walked us around the house, to his outdoor parking where stood, somewhat incongruously, the most sublime pair of imperial marble Fu lions. Such seated beasts were made as door guardians, placed in front of a main gate, providing protection in the spiritual as well as in the physical world. The lion stood for strength and security and symbolised the power of the empire.
A year later, we would see a superb cinnabar lacquer box of unusual large size decorated with lush, elaborately detailed lotus blooms, basking in the warm glow of the soft, silky patina. Boxes were among the most popular items made in carved lacquer for the imperial court during the Yongle and Xuande reigns, but most examples known are of much smaller dimensions. Only one box of similar size and design survives in the heirloom imperial collection housed at the Taipei Palace Museum.
Japanese dealers’ auctions remain closed to the wider public and it is in that confidential, airtight arena that are sold some of the finest objects. Mizuka always kept her ear close to the ground and so when in early 2014 a blue and white meiping was hammered down for the equivalent of US$2 million, she was quick to alert me that Mineo Hata was rumoured to have purchased it. A few days later, I was in the small veranda in Ashiya handling the most pristine, most brilliantly painted fruit meiping I have ever seen, remarkable for its delicate potting and its smooth and tactile glaze. Both in terms of its well-proportioned shape and its lush fruit pattern, this type set a standard that would be emulated for centuries to come.
The most dazzling piece of Ming blue and white porcelain that I have ever handled remains the sensational blue and white bowl masterfully painted masterfully painted around the sides and on the inside in brilliant cobalt-blue tones with fishes swimming among lotus flowers and undulating water weeds. The shape cleverly brings to mind the illusion of gentle underwater motion. The exceptional control over the cobalt pigment to maximum effect to create a rich tonal variation is unmatched, with incised veining on the lotus leaves and induced dark heaping and piling for their frayed edges. The bowl had been celebrated in Japan since the early 1960s and the subject of many prestigious publications and exhibitions, until it found its way into the hands of Mineo Hata. When we presented it for sale in 2017, following a fierce bidding battle it broke a world record for blue and white porcelain.
There has always been appreciation for early Buddhist sculpture in Japan since the early 20th century and the monumental stone head of Vairocana Buddha – the Buddha in royal attire – that Mr Hata presented to us, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Sotheby’s Asia in 2023, is exceptional both in size and in the magnificent quality of its carving. The style of the sculpture is typical of the Tang metropolitan style that was patronised by the court at the capital Chang’an, modern-day Xi’an in Shaanxi province, under the auspices of the Empress Wu. One related sculpture is known from the Longmen cave temples in Henan province, the free-standing seated Buddha from the Southern Leigutai Cave generally dated to around 700 AD. The style of the face is extremely close to two remarkable dry-lacquer heads similarly magnificent executed around the same time and sold through our auctions over the last decade.It is a privilege to present this carefully curated selection of early Buddhist and ancient art assembled by Mineo Hata over many decades. We trust that collectors of Chinese art will delight in this beautiful sale, which reflects the discerning eye of this esteemed Japanese connoisseur and his life in art.
Nicolas Chow
Chairman, Asia
Chairman and Worldwide Head of Asian Art
二
十年前在大阪古董街區老松町，是我人生中第一次遇見秦峰男。當時，在他別緻的藝廊內，擺滿了佛教殘像、古代瓷器和各色各樣的骨董，而我和他則坐在一樓的茶室，身旁是他全部家人，我們喝茶品茗，如此便開展了一段在過去二十年讓我津津樂道的交情。除了雅器珍品之外，秦先生對於展示傑作收藏同樣不乏意興，這份博物識珍的能力讓他保持敏銳眼光，好奇而不流於俗。不久，我和同事瀬谷瑞香獲邀到神戶附近古色古香的蘆屋市，在秦峰男家中作客，他和幾位兒子多年來便是在家中檐廊的和煦日光下，讓我們鑑賞一件又一件的中國藝術瑰寶。這些藏品多半是十五世紀初宮廷藝術上乘佳作，極其珍罕。至今，明初依然被認為是藝術發展上輝煌盛世之一，王朝的崛起為藝作貫注源源的生命力，在皇室的大力支持下，豐碩結晶。
2010年，有一次我們拜訪蘆屋時，秦峰男向我們展示一件精緻典雅的明代永樂青花執壺，壺身兩面飾以如意開光串枝蓮紋，設計難得一見。此青花壺乃工業家兼松下電器創辦人松下幸之助舊藏，他當時是透過著名古董老字號繭山龍泉堂購入的。現存已知的類例寥寥無幾，包括伊斯坦堡托普卡比宮殿鄂圖曼帝國蘇丹藏品，以及德黑蘭阿德比爾聖殿薩法菲國王舊藏兩件。秦先生隨後帶我們參觀所居，走到他的室外停車坪，一對略顯違和卻極為莊嚴的宮廷大理石獅子巍然矗立。獅子代表著力量和安全，也象徵了王朝的權力，置於門前，鎮守家宅，在形上和形下的世界提供保護。
一年後，我們又有幸在秦宅看到一個尺寸碩大的明初剔紅漆盒，蓋上滿雕蓮花綻放，精細入微，繁茂瓣葉融入輕柔如絹、溫潤含蓄的漆紅光澤中。永宣年間，漆盒乃最受歡迎的宮廷雕漆品類之一，但大多數已知存世例子尺寸較小，與此盒尺寸紋飾均相似者，僅止一例，現為台北故宮典藏。
日本古董商的拍賣一直不對外開放，在這個密不透風的保密平台上，偶有珍罕至極之品。我同事瀬谷瑞香總是會密切留意風聲，因此，2014年初當一件青花梅瓶以相當於200萬美元成交時，她很快便告訴我有關秦峰男成功投得梅瓶的傳言。幾天後，我便在蘆屋的小檐廊上，欣賞著我見過保存最佳、畫工最妙的瑞果紋梅瓶，其優美線條和細膩釉面都叫人讚嘆不已。此式梅瓶造型勻稱、果紋豐碩，自成典範，啟發往後數百年的藝匠巧思。
至於我手上接觸過最讓人著迷的明代青花瓷器，依然是這件雅緻細膩的青花盌，其鈷青發色絢麗，妙寫魚兒荷塘暢游，水草翩翩起伏，菱花盌形巧妙地讓人產生錯覺，看來仿若在水底輕柔擺動。鈷藍青料的運用出神入化，無與倫比，深淺發色的層次豐富，荷葉上有留白的葉脈紋理，在荷葉沿邊更見黑疵點綴，栩栩如生。自1960年代初以來，此盌在日本名聞遐邇，曾經成為許多著名刊物和展覽的主角，最後落入秦峰男的手中。2017年此盌在蘇富比上拍，經過連番激烈競價後，以打破青花瓷器世界紀錄的價格成交。
自二十世紀初以來，早期佛教造像在日本一直備受青睞。2023年蘇富比慶祝踏足亞洲五十年之際，秦先生委託我們獻呈一尊石灰岩雕寶冠佛首，尺寸碩大，工藝超卓，展現大唐武后當政期間，國都長安獨特的朝廷雕刻風格。河南省龍門石窟擂鼓台南洞有一圓雕近例，約造於公元700年。雕像佛相風格獨特，卻與蘇富比過去十年拍賣過的兩尊夾紵乾漆佛首臉容有類同之處，眉若刀裁，五觀皆以銳利凹槽框之，強調佛容氣勢。今季誠獻秦峰男數十年來悉心蒐集之早期佛教藝術及古代藝術珍品。此番專場拍賣，凝聚這位日本藝壇名家畢生浸淫藝術之心血與卓然眼光，必令中國藝術收藏家為之傾心。
仇國仕
蘇富比亞洲區主席
亞洲藝術部主席兼環球主管
