Page 44 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Eternal Music in Chinese art

16 Y
A VERY RARE WHITE-GLAZED ANHUA-DECORATED
‘LOTUS’ BELL
Circa 1640
Delicately incised with three evenly-spaced medallions enclosing a
foliate blossoming and budding lotus bloom, each flanked by a pair
of trefoil cloud-scrolls, all framed between a border of waves within
a scrolling zigzag around the high shoulders and a dense floral and
foliate border above the unglazed lobed rim, all covered with a glaze
of soft and very pale turquoise tone except the interior and rim, the
bell fitted with a bronze hanging loop decorated with a pair of hongmu
carved lion cubs playing with a ball, hongmu stand.
The bell, 19.5cm (7 3/4in) high (2).

HKD300,000 - 400,000
US$39,000 - 52,000

明崇禎 白釉暗花團花番蓮紋鈕鐘

Provenance:
Berwald Oriental Art, London

來源：
倫敦 Berwald Oriental Art

Published and Illustrated:
Berwald Oriental Art, Eight Transitional Treasures, London, 2015, no.5

出版及著錄：
Berwald Oriental Art，《Eight Transitional Treasures》
（八件轉變期珍品），倫敦，2015年，編號5

Bells as a percussion instrument were usually made in bronze since 鐘花口微侈，澀唇，直身，頂部拱平，原有瓷質鐘鈕，現配硬木雕雙
the early Western Zhou dynasty, but numerous ceramic bells were also 獅戲球鈕，鐘身内外施閃青白釉，口沿刻暗花碎葉一周，鐘身刻暗花
unearthed from tombs from the Western Zhou to the Han dynasty. 番蓮紋四團，間以雲紋，肩部刻海水紋一周，胎骨細膩緻密，釉色瑩
Porcelain bells, though, are rarely found before the Ming dynasty; see 瑩泛青。
a Ming dynasty ceramic example, in the Sir Percival David Collection,
the British Museum (PDF 135). High fired blue and white porcelain bells 鐘本為打擊樂器，西周以來皆為銅製，或有陶製，皆為銅鐘的隨葬替
emerged in the late Ming dynasty; see a blue and white bell painted 代品，漢代以後鮮見。瓷鐘宋元有出，體量不大，存世亦少。明代以
with luohans, Tianqi, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The 降有多有青花瓷鐘或白釉模印的例子，惟刻劃青白釉的瓷鐘頗為少
Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and 見。瓷鐘的音樂功能逐漸退化，多用於寺廟供奉或雅室陳設而已。可
White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (II), Hong Kong, 2000, no.212. 比較大維德基金藏一件明代白瓷鐘，館藏編號PDF35以及北京故宮博
The decoration on this bells indicates a religious purpose. This is 物院藏一件明天啓款的青花八仙紋瓷鐘《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全
further reinforced by the lotus blossoms on the present bell, symbolic 集：青花秞裡紅》，香港，2009年，卷中，圖版212，頁232-233。
of purity in Buddhism.
雖然崇禎紀年的類似瓷鐘闕如，但是本件瓷鐘口沿的裝飾具有明顯的
Though no other identical example appear to be published, its dating 當時風格。上海博物館藏一件明崇禎青花山水人物圖筆筒口沿及底部
to Chongzhen can be determined by comparison of the incised 飾一周暗花花朵紋和水波紋邊飾，於本件比之有異曲同工之妙，見《
borders. Such borders are typical to Chongzhen porcelain and 上海博物館與英國巴特勒家族所藏十七世紀景德鎮瓷器》，2005年，
can be seen on blue and white wares. Compare the incised zigzag 編號19；還可比較一件相關的崇禎/順治青白釉筆筒，見S.Marsh著，
wave border and dense foliate border on a blue and white brushpot, 《Brushpots: A Collector’s View, Barcelona》，2020年，頁170-171。
Chongzhen, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Seventeenth
Century Jingdezhen Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum and the 清代亦有單色釉瓷鐘存世，見清宮舊藏一件白瓷刻花鐘，見《故宮博
Butler Collections, Shanghai, 2005, no.19. See also a related incised 物院藏品大系陶瓷篇順治康熙》，2013年，卷23，編號190；以及一
Qingbai glazed brushpot, Chongzhen/Shunzhi, illustrated by S.Marsh, 件乾隆款白釉凸花鐘，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品大系顏色釉》，上
Brushpots: A Collector’s View, Barcelona, 2020, pp.170-171. 海，2020年，編號118。

Monochrome porcelain bells continued to be made, though in small
numbers, throughout the Qing dynasty; for an incised and relief
decorated white-glazed bell, Kangxi, in the Qing Court Collection,
see Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Ceramics
23 Shunzhi (1664-1661) and Kangxi (1662-1722) (III), Beijing,
2013, no.190; for another related example similar to the Kangxi
one, Qianlong mark and period, in the Qing Court Collection, see
The Complete Collection of the Treasures of the Palace Museum:
Monochrome Porcelain, Shanghai, 2010, no.118.

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