A FINE AND RARE EARLY MING ANHUA DECORATED TIANBAI STEMBOWL
PROPERTY FROM A EUROPEAN COLLECTION
甜白釉暗花八吉祥高足盌 雙行四字篆書暗刻款

明永樂

細節
明永樂  甜白釉暗花八吉祥高足盌 雙行四字篆書暗刻款

盌撇口,弧腹,高足中空。盌內外滿施白釉。盌壁暗刻佛八吉祥,盌心圈內暗刻「永樂年製」篆書款,外環蓮瓣紋。

永樂、宣德時期景德鎮官窰盛行仿宋龍泉青釉高足盌的造型,永樂高足盌常見以冬青釉、甜白釉裝飾。永樂官窰瓷器多不落款,這批白釉高足盌卻暗刻篆書款,相信是永樂朝臣沈度的手書體,亦成為明清官窰最早生產的帶款瓷器。明代焦竑著《玉堂叢話》,其中卷七「巧藝」記述:「度書獨為上所愛,凡玉冊、金簡,用之宗廟朝廷、藏秘府、施四裔、刻之貞石,必命度書之。」

同款八吉祥紋並不多見。相近例子有盌心環波浪紋,1984年11月20日於香港蘇富比拍賣,拍品349號。其他例子以暗花龍紋居多,臺北故宮博物院藏一例,見1991年台北出版劉良佑著《中國歷代陶瓷鑑賞.卷4.明官窰》,35頁。

此器1987年11月24日於香港蘇富比拍賣,拍品40號。
來源
Previously sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 24 November 1987, lot 40

榮譽呈獻

Aster Ng
Aster Ng

查閱狀況報告或聯絡我們查詢更多拍品資料

登入
瀏覽狀況報告

拍品專文

The present stembowl has the beautifully balanced profile characteristic of the early 15th century, and is covered in the soft lustrous white glaze, which is called tianbai or 'sweet white' in Chinese. This glaze was developed in the Yongle reign and appears to have been a particular favourite of the emperor. More than ninety percent of the porcelains from this period, which were found at the site of the imperial kilns, were white wares. This reflects the aesthetic preference of the emperor, who demonstrated a special appreciation of plain white items, such as white jades. It is also a reflection of his adherence to Lamaist Buddhism. The anhua, or 'secret decoration' around the sides of this stembowl depicts the Eight Buddhist Emblems.

The Yongle Emperor invited several important abbots from Tibetan monasteries to come to the Chinese capital at Nanjing, and received them with great ceremony. White porcelains of this type would have been made for use in the rituals performed during those visits, in particular those conducted by Halima in memory of the emperor's deceased parents in 1407. Porcelains of this type were also sent by the emperor as gifts to the abbots of important Tibetan monasteries, where some of them have been preserved to the present day.

This stembowl also belongs to one of the earliest groups of porcelains to bear the reign mark of the ruling emperor. On the interior of the stembowl is a four-character reign mark reading Yong le nian zhi, 'Made in the Yongle reign', which is written in a style of calligraphy based on that of the emperor's favourite calligrapher, Shen Du. The reign of the Yongle Emperor was the first in which reign marks regularly appeared on porcelains made for the Chinese court.

There are very few examples of Yongle-marked stembowls with anhua-decorated Eight Buddhist Emblems. Another example but with the reign mark surrounded by waves was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 20 November 1984, lot 349. A more common pattern is 'dragons' on the well, as can be seen on one in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics - 4 - Ming Official Wares, Taipei, 1991, p. 35.

更多來自 重要中國瓷器及工藝精品 I 及 II

查看全部
查看全部