Page 20 - Christie's Hong Kong November 29, 2022 Fine Chinese Works of Art

GEMS OF 17TH CENTURY PORCELAIN

FROM THE BUTLER FAMILY COLLECTION

ROSEMARY SCOTT, INDEPENDENT SCHOLAR

Sir Michael Butler (1927-2013) was among the last Seventeenth Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the
of the important 20th century British collectors of Shanghai Museum and the Butler Collection – Beauty’s
Chinese ceramics. He also had a very distinguished Enchantment, Shanghai, 2005, pp. 262-3, no. 94),
career in the British Foreign Office, which he joined which turned out to be a unique surviving example
in 1950, serving not only in London, but in Baghdad, of this type. In 1961 Chinese porcelains of the
Paris, Geneva, Washington and Brussels. In 1975 he 17th century were a misunderstood and under-
was awarded CMG (Commander of the Order of researched group compared to those of the 16th and
St. Michael and St. George) by Her Majesty Queen 18th centuries. However, during the last quarter
Elizabeth II. In 1980 he was elevated to Knight of the 20th and first decade of the 21st century, Sir
Commander (KCMG), while in 1984 Sir Michael Michael, together with scholars such as Margaret
was further awarded the highest rank of this order, Medley, Julia Curtis and Stephen Little, in the West,
GCMG (Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St. and Wang Qingzheng in China, sought to redress
Michael and St. George). In 1985 he retired from the this imbalance, creating an informed and structured
Foreign Office and applied himself to a number of approach to 17th century porcelains.
advisory roles and directorships. In the same year, Sir
Michael became deputy chairman of the Board of Chinese porcelains of the 17th century, encompassing
Trustees of the Victoria and Albert Museum, a role fig. 1 Sir Michael Butler GCMG the late Ming and early Qing periods, remained the
(1927-2013)
he occupied until 1997. 圖一 邁克爾‧巴特勒爵士 primary focus of Sir Michael’s long collecting career.
(1927-2013) Study of his collecting history by the current generation
Sir Michael Butler acquired his first piece of Chinese is greatly facilitated by the fact that from 1965 he kept
porcelain in London in 1961. This was a 17th century green-glazed a record of his purchases and disposals in a carefully annotated ledger.
wine or tea pot in the shape of a section of bamboo (illustrated in Key information from these ledgers, along with much additional

巴特勒家族珍藏十七世紀瓷器

蘇玫瑰 (獨立學者)

在庋藏中國陶瓷的最後一批二十世紀英國鑑藏家之中，邁 館與英國巴特勒家族所藏十七世紀景德鎮瓷器》頁262-3
克爾‧巴特勒爵士(1927-2013年)堪稱中流砥柱。他於1950 編號94(上海：2005)，後經證實為近似例中的傳世孤品。
年加入英國外交部，除了在倫敦履行職務，更先後派駐巴格 於1961年，十七世紀中國瓷器相對於十六、十八世紀的製
達、巴黎、日內瓦、華盛頓與布魯塞爾，任內卓有建樹。1975 品而言，仍是一個誤解重重且研究匱乏的領域。然而，二十
年，他獲英女王伊麗莎白二世頒授聖米迦勒及聖喬治同袍勳 世紀最後二十五年及二十一世紀頭十年內，巴特勒爵士聯
章 (CMG)，1980年擢升二等勳爵(KCMG)，1984年終獲封 同西方學者 —— 如麥德理(Ｍargaret Medley)、柯麗婭
一等勳爵(GCMG)，即同一勳銜的最高級別。1985年，他自 (Julia Curtis)和利斯芬(Stephen Little) —— 及中國陶
外交部榮休，其後出任多家機構的顧問或董事。同年，巴特 瓷專家汪慶正先生，銳意就此撥亂反正、拾遺補闕，終為
勒爵士應邀擔任維多利亞與艾伯特博物館信託委員會副主 十七世紀中國瓷器創立了一個縝密嚴謹、條分縷析的理論
席，並一直履行該職至1997年為止。 框架。
1961年，巴特勒爵士在倫敦購入其首件中國瓷器珍藏。這 綜觀巴特勒爵士漫長的收藏之旅，十七世紀中國瓷器(涵蓋
是一件十七世紀青釉竹節式酒壺或茶壺，圖見《上海博物 明末清初)始終是其庋藏的重中之重。自1965年起，他特地

18