拍品专文
This vase appears to be unique, as there are no other Yongzheng-marked crackled-glaze vases of this form recorded.
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A Magnificent Octagonal Flask with Ge-type Glaze Rosemary Scott, International Academic Director Asian Art The arts made for the Yongzheng emperor are noted for their refined taste and their exquisite craftsmanship. The emperor was an extremely demanding patron, and the items made for him during his years as an imperial prince as well as those made during his relatively short reign reflect his exacting standards, and have thus always been highly regarded by connoisseurs. Prince Yinzhen, who was to rule as the Yongzheng emperor did not ascend the throne until he was 45 years of aGe, and died when he was 58, so the greater part of his life was spent as a prince. He was a very diliGent ruler, but enjoyed pastimes such as reading, playing musical instruments, playing chess, painting, and collecting art and antiquities. In one famous portrait of the emperor he is shown seated reading (illustrated in China - The Three Emperors 1662-1795, E. S. Rawski and J. Rawson eds., London, 2005, p. 246, no. 165), and on his right is an archaic jade cong, which he is using as a brush-pot. It is interesting to note antiques being included in this and several other portraits of the Yongzheng Emperor. In a painting entitled ‘Yongzheng Sitting in the Langyin Pavilion’ there is an ancient bronze ding tripod on the table behind him, along with various accoutrements of a scholar (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 14 Paintings by the Court Artists of the Qing Court, p. 73, no. 10). Amongst the series of paintings of The Yongzheng Emperor’s Amusements of the Twelve Months, one painting shows the emperor reading with his feet resting on a brazier entitled Yongzheng Reading by a Burner (illustrated in Harmony and Integrity - The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, Taipei, 2009, pp. 118-19, no. I-58). To the emperor’s right is an elaborate series of cupboards and display shelves, on which can be seen books and art objects, including antiques. One of the vases shown appears to have a Ge-type glaze. Yongzheng’s passion for antiques is made even clearer by the existence of two long hand scrolls - one in the collection of Sir Percival David and the other in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. These hand scrolls are from a series of scrolls painted in 1728 and 1729. The David Foundation scroll is number 6, dated to AD 1728, while the V scroll is number 8, dated to AD 1729 (illustrated in China - The Three Emperors 1662-1795, op. cit., pp. 252-55) . The extant scrolls are entitled Guwan tu (Pictures of ancient playthings) and depict a ranGe of antiques in bronze, jade and hardstones, wood and ceramics. At the left-hand end of the Percival David scroll is an imperial throne, empty as if waiting for Yongzheng to take his seat and peruse his treasures. Both of these scrolls depict a number of ceramics which have subtly-coloured crackled glazes of Guan or Ge type - further evidence of the Yongzheng Emperor’s admiration for these ancient crackle-glazed wares. It is not surprising, therefore to note that a number of the Yongzheng ceramics in a variety of forms preserved in the Palace collections in Beijing and Taipei have glazes of this type - for example those illustrated in Harmony and Integrity - The Yongzheng Emperor and His Times, op. cit., p. 204, no. II-30, pp. 222-3, nos. II-48 and II-49, p. 225, no. II-51, p. 234, no. II-60. Like the current flask, each of these vessels from Beijing and Taipei has a six-character underglaze blue seal mark. Both as a prince and after he ascended the throne, the Yongzheng emperor took a keen and active interest in the arts created for the court. One of the areas in which he had a particular interest was the production of imperial porcelain, and a major feature of the ceramics made for the Yongzheng Emperor was a reflection of his interest in antiques. This manifested itself in both the forms and glazes of the products of the imperial kilns. Glazes made in imitation of Song dynasty Guan and Ge wares, but applied to porcelain bodies, appeared at the Ming imperial kilns during both the Xuande and Chenghua reigns, but in the Qing Yongzheng reign the Song style crackled glazes reached new heights. A great deal of research and development at the imperial kilns was undertaken under the auspices of both Nian Xiyao and Tang Ying, at the behest of the emperor, and this included the development of a huGe ranGe of new monochrome colours, including archaistic crackled glazes. Tang Ying in particular was known for his skill in recreating ancient glaze types - such as that seen on the current flask. The shape of the current flask is very rare. A similarly shaped octagonal flask dating to the Yongzheng reign, decorated in underglaze blue with a design of Geese on a river bank was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong in December 2010 Lot 3051 (fig. 1). These rare octagonal flasks are an unusual variant of the circular flattened flasks which appear in the Chinese ceramic repertoire in a variety of forms. Flattened circular flasks with handles joining the mouth of the vessel to the shoulder on either side of the neck can be traced back to the ancient world. One of the most famous versions of this form, sometimes referred to as a ‘stirrup jar’, is the unglazed pottery flask decorated with an octopus painted in dark brown, which was found among the late Minoan artefacts at Palaikastro on the island of Crete. The Minoan flask dates to about 1500 BC, and thus was contemporary with the Shang dynasty in China (illustrated in Spyridon Marinatos and Max Hirmer, Crete and Mycenae, Harry N. Abrams, New York, 1960, pl. 87). Essentially, the Minoan flask, appears to have been made by luting two bowls toGether rim-to-rim, and the foot of the bowl can be seen in the area of the octopus’s eyes. Although somewhat less flattened than some of the later vessels from various other cultures, early pottery flasks such as the Minoan example must have been their ancestors. Flattened circular flasks are also known to have been found at Nineveh - this time with their handles on the shoulders - dating to the Parthian period (150 BC-AD 250), which is roughly contemporary with the Han dynasty in China. A number of glazed pottery flasks of flattened circular form with handles on either side of the neck are found among Sassanian ceramics (AD 224-642). A green glazed earthenware pilgrim flask from Šuš, dating to the Sassanian period (AD 224-642), is in the collection of the Iran Bastan Museum, Teheran (illustrated in The World’s Great Collections – Oriental Ceramics, Vol 4, Iran Bastan Museum Teheran, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1981, black and white plate no. 101). This flask has flat encircling strip sides forming a relatively sharp junction with the front and back circular panels, which are noticeably domed, similar to the form of the current Yongzheng flask, but without the octagonal profile. The handles on the Sassanian flask are on the shoulders, either side of the neck, rather than joining neck to shoulder. It is likely that the shape with encircling strip sides came to the notice of Chinese craftsmen through glass vessels imported from the Near East, possibly those similar to a green glass flask in the Tareq Rajab Museum in Kuwait (illustrated on https://www.trmkt.com/glassdetails.htm). This is a Syrian flask from the late 7th or early 8th century - contemporary with the Tang dynasty in China, and was made of mould-blown and cut glass. A vessel of identical form was found in an excavation at Tarsus in south-eastern Anatolia in the 1930s, in a context with Umayyad and early Abbasid pottery. The handles attach only to the lower part of the neck of this vessel, but it is of particular interest because it stands on a distinct foot, unlike the majority of the early vessels in circular form, which appear footless. One of the earliest example of a ceramic version of the side-strip form to be found in China is a Liao (AD 916-1125) green-glazed flask excavated in Inner Mongolia in 1965 (illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan - taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, p. 164, no. 560). This vessel stands on a small foot and has six loops on the sides to hold a carrying strap in place, sugGesting that it was to be hung – perhaps from a saddle. In the Yongle (1403-24) reign larGe flasks with strip sides were made at Jingdezhen and decorated in underglaze cobalt blue. These flasks had flat, unglazed backs, and domed fronts with a raised central boss. They also had ring handles on the shoulders, ostensibly for the attachment of carrying straps – although the weight would have been too great to rely on porcelain rings. Two of these flat-backed Yongle flasks from the Qing court collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, are illustrated in Gugong bowuyuan cang – Ming chu qinghua ci, vol. 1, Beijing, 2002, pp. 70-1, nos. 33 and 34. Such vessels, which have no foot and so would have to lie flat or be suspended, probably take their inspiration from metalwork vessels such as the Syrian brass canteen, dating to the mid-13th century, in the collection of the Freer Gallery, Washington, which is of very similar form (Illustrated on https://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/online/islamic/artofobject1b.htm). Several flattened circular flasks, which were capable of standing, are known amongst Yongle porcelain vessels decorated in underglaze cobalt blue. One is the classic so-called ‘precious moon flask’ baoyueping, which has no additional foot, but has a flattened area at the base of the vessel (see an example illustrated by Rosemary Scott, Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration – Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, Percival David Foundation, London, 1992, p. 39, no. 26). Another Yongle variant of these flattened circular flasks has a slightly bulbous neck and stands on a flared foot - a circular version of the rectangular foot on which the current flask stands. The foot of this type of Yongle flask probably has its origins in glass rosewater sprinklers (qumqum) dating to the 12th-13th centuries from Egypt or Syrian, such as the example in the al-Sabah collection in the Kuwait National Museum, which was reportedly found at Mharda in Syria. Interestingly both these flask forms are revived amongst Yongzheng imperial porcelains, as evidenced by Yongzheng blue and white flasks in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 36, Blue and White Porcelain with Undeglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 111-113, nos. 97-99). However, neither of these latter two forms has a side strip, but underglaze blue decorated flattened double gourd flasks from both the Yongle and Xuande reigns did have side strips (see the flasks in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 34 Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, pp. 100-1, nos. 94-5). These flasks laid the foundations for the impressive vessels produced at the imperial kilns in the Yongzheng reign. As a number of the Yongzheng flasks are larGe in size, the potters sensibly chose to adopt the form that had strip sides, which gave them greater stability. A number of different versions of the form are known amongst surviving Yongzheng flasks. Simple circular forms with flared feet and paired handles rising on either side from shoulder to neck can be seen in vessels such as the example decorated in underglaze blue and copper red in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Kangxi Yongzheng Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 189, no. 18). Another version with bulbous mouth is known - exemplified by the Yongzheng vessel with Guan-type glaze in the Huaihaitang Collection (illustrated in Ethereal Elegance - Porcelain Vases of the Imperial Qing - The Huaihaitang Collection, Hong Kong, 2007, no. 31, (fig. 2). A further variant is a quatrelobed flask, one of which, bearing a Ge-type glaze, was sold by Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 November, 2014, lot 3274 (fig. 3). Octagonal flasks, such as the current vessel, appear to be the rarest, and combine the Yongzheng Emperor’s love of antiques with his desire for auspicious references in their eight-sided profile.
AN EXTREMELY RARE GE-TYPE GLAZED OCTAGONAL MOONFLASK
YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)
细节
AN EXTREMELY RARE GE-TYPE GLAZED OCTAGONAL MOONFLASK
YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)
The moonflask is sturdily potted with a flattened octagonal body raised on a tapered foot and rising to a cylindrical neck flanked by a pair of openwork archaistic handles. The vase is covered under an even crackled Ge-type glaze.
19 1/8 in. (48.4 cm.) high
YONGZHENG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)
The moonflask is sturdily potted with a flattened octagonal body raised on a tapered foot and rising to a cylindrical neck flanked by a pair of openwork archaistic handles. The vase is covered under an even crackled Ge-type glaze.
19 1/8 in. (48.4 cm.) high
荣誉呈献
Ruben Lien