Page 23 - CHRISTIE'S Marchant Nine Decades of Chinese Art 09/14/17

藝臻期頤-MARCHANT珍藏中國藝術品

As is the case with the current jar, the jars from the Yuan and Ming 是次拍賣囊括了元代和明初的一些經典龍泉器形，
dynasties normally have saucer-shaped, separately-applied, bases, 拍品中的元末/明初龍泉青釉刻蓮紋鳳尾尊（拍品
while the Southern Song jars have fat, fxed, bases. As noted above, 編號702）便是最佳例證。1987年，杭州出土元代
the current jar is especially rare in being decorated with a powerful 墓葬文物中有一件紋飾相若的近似例，其頸凸起弦
four-clawed dragon encircling the body of the vessel. The dragon has 紋數道，器身飾纏枝花卉，足部繪一道長瓣紋，圖
been depicted above a band of stylized waves, and appears to stride 見《中國出土瓷器全集》卷九之「浙江」頁218 (北
through stylized clouds. Accompanying the current jar is a well- 京：2008)。這類瓶式的創燒年代看來至少可上溯
designed cover in the form of an up-turned lotus leaf. It is interesting 至十四世紀頭十年。內蒙古呼和浩特以東的考古遺
to note that on the famous handscroll in ink and colour on silk, 址也曾出土一件近似例，惟其器身飾浮雕牡丹，圖
entitled Elegant Gathering in the Apricot Garden (杏園雅集), which is 見《文物》1977年第5期頁76圖3。該處的出土文物
in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 中，還有一例帶「己酉年九月」(據考古學家推算
there is a monochrome (probably either Longquan celadon or white 為公元1309年) 年款的鈞窯鼎式爐。公元1323年，
Jingdezhen porcelain) jar of similar shape, with a lotus leaf lid standing 一艘中國商船自中國寧波駛往日本鎌倉途中，於
on a red lacquer stand shown on a table behind the main group of 朝鮮新安海域沉沒，沉船文物中有一例大小和所刻
fgures (directly behind the standing crane). The gathering is believed 紋飾均與本鳳尾尊相若的瓷瓶，圖見《新安海底文
to have taken place in April 1427, and was hosted by Yang Rong 物》特展圖錄彩色圖版47 (首爾：1977)，同一批文
(楊榮, 1371-1440), while the senior guest was Yang Shiqi (楊士奇, 物中還有數件大小不一的近似例。此外，多件類似
1365-1444). The original painting by Xie Hun (謝環 1377-1452) is 的瓷尊亦見諸伊期坦布爾的托普卡比宮珍藏，以及
believed to be in the Zhenjiang Museum, while The Metropolitan 伊朗的阿德比爾珍藏，足證這一瓶式在國內外市場
Museum of Art scroll is believed to be a contemporary copy made 均大行其道。
by one of Xie Hun’s associates for Yang Shiqi. The gentlemen in the 這批珍藏呈現了多款明代的經典形制，其中之一是
painting were all-important literati-offcials of the early 15th century, 玉壺春瓶式的龍泉青釉纏枝牡丹紋執壺（拍品編號
and the antiques and works of art that appear in the background of the 705）。龍泉窯和景德鎮御窯均有燒造這類作品。
paintings emphasise their refned tastes.
Lot 703
The current sale includes classic Longquan forms from both the
Yuan and early Ming dynasties. The 14th century trumpet-mouth
vase (lot 702) is a case in point. A similarly decorated vase with raised
rings encircling the whole of the neck, foral scrolls around the
body, and a tall petal band around the foot, was excavated in 1987
from a Yuan dynasty hoard in Hangzhou city (illustrated in Complete
Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China – 9 – Zhejiang, Beijing,
2008, no. 218.) Vases of this form appear to have been made from at
least the frst decade of the 14th century. A similar vase, with relief
peony decoration on the body, was excavated from a site to the east
of Huhehot in Inner Mongolia (illustrated in Wenwu, 1977, vol. 5,
p. 76, fg. 3). A Jun ware censer of ding form, which was excavated
from the same site, was incised with a cyclical date of the ninth month
of the jiyou year, which has been calculated by the archaeologists as
corresponding to 1309. A vase of similar size and carved decoration
as the current vase was salvaged from the wreck of a Chinese trading
vessel which foundered off the Sinan coast of Korea on its way from
Ningbo in China to Kamakura in Japan in 1323 (illustrated in Special
Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off Sinan Coast, Seoul, 1977, colour
plate 47), along with a number of similar vessels of different sizes.
Similar vases are also preserved in the Topkapi Saray, Istanbul, and in
the collection from the Ardebil shrine, preserved in Tehran, Iran –
testifying to the popularity of this form with foreign patrons as well as
within China itself.

One of the classic Ming dynasty forms in the current collection is
the elegant pear-shaped ewer decorated with peony scrolls (lot 705).
This is a form which was produced both at the Longquan kilns and at
the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen. It follows closely the form of pear-
shaped vases of the period, but with the addition of a long curved
spout, attached to the neck with a stabilizing cloud-form strut, and a
long strap handle. A slightly smaller Longquan ewer, also with peony
scroll decoration like that of the current ewer, from the Idemitsu
Collection is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in The Idemitsu Collection,
Japan, 1987, no. 589. A further similar example in the Shanghai
Museum is illustrated in Celadons from Longquan Kilns, op. cit.,
p. 195, no. 169, while an undecorated ewer of very similar
proportions to those of the current ewer is in the collection of the

21