Page 321 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Chinese Art

This bowl is a rare version of an important and 宣窰創燒一批珍貴青花大盌，此器飾纏枝蓮
interesting group of blue and white porcelain 紋，甚是珍稀。盌身廣淺，造形渾厚，器壁厚
from the Xuande period. This group of bowls 度約一公分，胎體均勻，外壁以青花繪綴紋
are characterised by their large yet finely potted 飾，內壁留白，纏枝蓮紋線條細緻柔美，韻律
shallow form, deliberate sturdily potted walls, 輕盈，完美平衡器形渾重之感，窰燒技術高
evidenced in the walls which are about 1 cm thick, 超。多數大盌均見口沿下書「大明宣德年製」
their exquisitely painted designs rendered in 款，惟本品口沿下繪一道雲紋，紋下書年款，
cobalt blue on the exterior and their undecorated 圈足並同綴雲紋，更是罕有。
interior. The thickness of the potting is gracefully
counterbalanced through the delicate and lyrical 一件類同尺寸之大盌，展出於《天民樓藏
design of lotus blooms set within ‘C’ scrolls, a 瓷》，香港藝術館，香港，1987年，編號25
movement that is accentuated through the clouds ；Frederick T. Fuller 舊藏一例，1965年6月
that border it. Almost all of these bowls have the 28、29日售於倫敦佳士得，編號146，1986
six-character reign mark of Xuande written just 年6月10日售於倫敦蘇富比，編號222；另一
below the rim and it is only on the present type 器出自胡惠春珍藏，1985年6月4日售於紐約
that the mark appears under a cloud scroll at the 蘇富比，編號6；第四例1978年12月12日售
rim, a motif that is repeated on the foot. 於倫敦蘇富比，編號379。尺寸較小之器，參
考台北國立故宮博物院藏例，展出於《明代
Closely related bowls include one of similar size 宣德官窰菁華特展圖錄》，台北，1998年，
included in the exhibition Chinese Porcelain. 圖版43；牛津阿什莫林博物館藏一盌，刊於
The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Hong Kong 《世界陶磁全集》，卷14，東京，1976年，
Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. no. 25; one 圖版150；還有一器1989年11月14日售於
from the Frederick T. Fuller collection, sold at 香港蘇富比，編號19，後三度售於香港佳士
Christie’s London, 28th/29th June 1965, lot 146, 得，1996年11月3日，編號710，2008年5月
and again in our London rooms, 10th June 1986, 27日，編號1847，及2010年12月1日，編號
lot 222; another from the J.M. Hu collection, 3112；另一例售於紐約佳士得，1982年6月
sold in our New York rooms, 4th June 1985, 23日，編號86。
lot 6; and a fourth example sold in our London
rooms, 12th December 1978, lot 379. Slightly 宣德青花大盌用途迄今尚無定論。《天民樓藏
smaller examples are also known, such as one 瓷》，香港藝術館，1987年，頁53，筆者討
in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included 論了此類盌的用途。筆者道，此類盌的用途眾
in the Museum’s Special Exhibition of Selected 說紛紜。有人認為它是骰盌，供宮中擲骰賭博
Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, 之用；一說為筆洗，書案洗筆之用；又說其堅
Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 43; a bowl in the Ashmolean 厚的器壁，正是鬥蟋蟀的戰場；還說是果盌，
Museum, Oxford, illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu/ 盛水果之用。
Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976,
pl. 150; one sold in these rooms, 14th November
1989, lot 19, and three times at Christie’s Hong
Kong, 3rd November 1996, lot 710, 27th May
2008, lot 1847, and 1st December 2010, lot 3112;
and another sold at Christie’s New York, 23rd
June 1982, lot 86.

The purpose of these shallow bowls has
not yet been definitely determined. In the
exhibition catalogue Chinese Porcelain. The
S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, op. cit., p. 53, it is
suggested that such bowls were possibly used
as dice bowls in the palace for playing dice, used
by scholars as brush washers, as fruit bowls,
or for the popular game of cricket fights as the
thickness of the bowls would have rendered them
an ideal battleground for combating crickets.

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 319