Page 9 - Three Qianlong Rarities Christies Hong Kong May 2018
P. 9
BOUNTIFUL HARVEST –
A MAGNIFICENT QIANLONG MOONFLASK
Rosemary Scott
Senior International Academic Consultant Asian Art, Asian Art
盈車嘉穗
清乾隆 青花春耕圖雙福如意耳大抱月瓶 六字篆書款
蘇玫瑰
資深國際學術顧問 亞洲藝術部
This large, rare and magnificent flask is skilfully painted in rich underglaze cobalt 這件珍罕之作器身敦碩，釉下鈷藍畫工嫺
blue with a large circular panel containing an agricultural scene on each side 熟，前後腹各飾一面大型圓形開光，內
surrounded by a formal peony scroll. On either side of the neck are bat-shaped 繪耕耘圖，邊框環飾規整的纏枝牡丹紋。
handles each one holding a lingzhi fungus of immortality in its mouth. Painted 頸側對稱置蝙蝠耳，啣一枝喻長生不老的
front and back of the neck are two more bats. All the bats – both painted and as 靈芝，瓶頸前後亦各繪一隻蝙蝠。這些蝠
handles - are depicted upside-down. Since bats are a symbol of happiness and 紋與蝠耳俱上下倒垂，皆因「蝠」象徵
the word for upside-down is a rebus for ‘arrive’, these bats symbolise the arrival 「福」，而「倒」諧「到」，故「蝠倒」
of happiness. On either side of the flask, below the handle, is painted a lotus 喻指「福到」。瓶耳下方各繪蓮花一朵，
flower from which is suspended a complex hanging which appears to combine 花下所懸飾物樣式繁複，似結合了「卍」
the Swastika symbol 卍 representing 萬 wan (ten thousand) and the character （音同「萬」）及「壽」字，合指萬壽無
壽 shou (longevity) – suggesting ten thousand years of long life. Below that is 疆。其下懸磬音同「慶」，暗指「吉慶」。
a suspended 磬 qing chiming stone, which is a rebus for 慶 qing celebration and 瓶腹前後的兩面大型開光，描繪的是一派
吉慶 jiqing auspicious happiness. The major decorative panel on either side of 閒適自在的田園耕耘景致，對於渴望返璞
this moonflask does not merely represent an attractive bucolic scene of a peasant 歸真、遠離案牘之苦的中國文人來說，觀
tilling his fields, which might appeal to a Chinese literatus dreaming fondly 之定然心馳神往。實則，其寓意之深遠，
of a simple life away from the exigencies of official duties. It has much more 遠不僅止於此。
important symbolism
瓶身圖畫直接取材於 1696 年名作《御
The immediate inspiration for the scenes on either side the flask is the famous 製耕織圖》，或名《佩文齋耕織圖》，
1696 imperial publication 御製耕織圖 Yuzhi Gengzhi tu, sometimes known as 英 文 多 直 譯 為「Pictures of Tilling and
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