Page 62 - 2020 December 1 Bonhams Hong Kong, Eternal Music in Chinese art

23
A BLUE AND WHITE ‘FOUR IMPERIAL CONCUBINES’ VASE
Kangxi
Of baluster form with high shoulders below a spreading mouth, the
elegant body tapering slightly towards the foot, painted on the body
with four concubines in a garden setting, one holding a child playing
on a rocky platform, another standing by a child next to a pingtou’an
table, the third carrying a guqin wrapped within a brocade sash facing
towards the fourth lady carrying a decorated leaf-shaped fan, the
gently tapered neck painted with a band of ruyi-head clouds.
44cm (17 1/4) high.

HKD300,000 - 500,000
US$39,000 - 65,000

清康熙 青花四妃四子圖尊

It is rare to find the depiction of the ‘Four Imperial Concubines’ and 圓唇，口外侈，頸略微内束，頸肩之際繪青花如意雲頭紋及卷雲紋帶
boys playing in a garden on vases. Although the subject matter is 飾一周，溜肩，瓶身朝下緩收，瓶底内收成圈足，圈足外壁刮胎修飭
found more frequently on jars and dishes, the earliest record of this 圓滑，瓶身青花繪四妃三子休憩玩耍於蕉石花園，一妃扶行一子爬於
subject in literature was in the Yiwen Leiju, (Classified collection 石台，石桌一側仙鶴起舞，新月當空，一妃手持點心回望石台嬰孩，
based on the Classics and other literature), a Chinese encyclopedia 腳下倚立一子，石台之下坐一兔，一妃橫抱琴囊與另一持扇妃子談
completed in 624 AD under Imperial order during the early Tang 笑，琴下一小童擎荷嬉笑，人物之間又有雙碟翻飛，雙鳥比翼，人物
dynasty. The Four Imperial Concubines refer to the four consorts of 衣衫各不相同，三人身著錦繡，花色相異，惟一人著素服披氅。此瓶
Emperor Ku: Jiang Yuan, Jiandi, Changyi and Qingdu, see Ouyang 人物線條勾勒細膩流暢，動靜如生，青花分水層次分明，色澤雅麗，
Xun, ed.(557-641), Yiwen Leiju, Qinding Siku Quanshu version, 1773- 全器施漿白釉，釉面散見針眼，時代特征鮮明。
1792, vol.15, p.4.
披氅素服之妃子似有身孕，則整個畫面即為四妃四子。明清之際的民
See a woodcut print scroll dated 1747, Sifei tu, in the British Museum, 窯瓷器常見四妃四子或四妃十六子的題材，皆化自上古典故。《藝文
depicting the Four Imperial Concubines and sixteen boys playing in the 類聚》轉引《世本》曰：「帝嚳卜其四妃之子，皆有天下，元妃有邰
garden of a mansion (acc.no.1926,0410,0.25) 氏之女，曰姜嫄，生后稷，次妃有娀氏之女，曰簡狄，生契，次妃陳
酆氏慶都，生帝堯，次妃娵訾氏，生帝摯。」四妃四子或出於此，四
Compare with a similarly decorated but smaller blue and white vase, 妃即帝嚳之元妃姜嫄，次妃簡狄、慶都、娵訾氏，四子即后稷、契、
Kangxi, in the National Museum of Singapore, illustrated in Chinese 帝堯、帝摯，皆上古賢帝，見唐代歐陽詢編，《藝文類聚》，《欽定
Blue & White Ceramics, Singapore, 1978, p.237, no.147. See another 四庫全書》本，1773-1792年，卷15，頁4。 明末清初動亂之後，四
blue and white jar with a design of ‘Four Concubines and Sixteen 妃四子的題材或更有子孫昌盛之寄託，由是民窯瓷器多有繪製。
Children’, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai
Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pp.84-85, no.54. A blue and 大英博物館藏一件1747年作木板印刷「四妃圖」捲軸，為兩幅之一，
white vase of similar shape to the present lot is in the Jiangxi Ceramic 描繪四妃十六子於庭院花園中嬉戲，可見類似題材在當時非常盛行
Museum, illustrated in China’s Jingdezhen Porcelain Through the Ages （博物館編號1926,0410,0.25）。
Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 1998, p.27.
參考新加坡國立博物館曾展出一件清康熙青花母子瓶，較本瓶矮，題
材器型相似，見《Chinese Blue & White Ceramics 》，新加坡，1978
年，圖版147，頁237。亦可比較上海博物館藏一件青花四妃十六子圖
罐之圖樣及畫法，見《上海博物館藏康熙瓷圖錄》，香港，1998年，
圖版54，頁84-85。此類器型類似於清初常見之棒槌瓶，比較一件相
似器型的青花瀟湘八景棒槌瓶，藏於江西景德鎮陶瓷館，見《中國歷
代景德鎮瓷器：清卷》，北京，1998年，頁27

60 | BONHAMS