Page 47 - Imperial Sale Chinese Works of Art June 1 2016 HK

sent from the Beijing ateliers to Nian Xiyao at the Jingdezhen
Imperial kilns.

The new array of glaze and enamel colours developed in the
Imperial workshops during the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods,
provided the ceramic artists with a vastly enlarged palette with
which to create new designs on porcelain. Amongst the new
designs were those which incorporated elements which allowed
the porcelain to resemble another material. While the greatest
proportion of porcelains decorated to imitate other materials
were made during the reign of the Qianlong emperor, the few
examples that have survived from the Yongzheng reign are of
particularly high quality, and mostly feature the imitation of
wood, as exemplified by the current finely-painted brush pot.

Two of the colours that particularly facilitated the imitation of fig. 2 Collection of Palace Museum, Beijing
wood were two orangey-reds, both of which were created using （圖二）北京故宮博物院藏品
iron oxide. Iron-red enamels had a long history on Chinese
ceramics, but in the first half of the 18th century craftsmen 而成。中國製瓷史上，礬紅琺瑯彩的運用源遠流長，但
discovered that if they replaced some of the lead oxide (used as a 在十八世紀上半葉，瓷工發現若用硝石替代部份氧化鉛
flux in the original iron-red enamel recipe) with potassium nitrate, ( 原用礬紅琺瑯彩中的助熔劑 )，所得橘紅色最適於模仿
they could achieve an orangey-red that was ideal for imitating 漆器和某些木材的紋理。他們還發現了另一種能耐受高
both lacquer and the grain of certain woods.They also discovered 溫窯燒的橘紅色，此色很可能是用含大量長石的低鈣瓷
another orangey-red that could be fired at high temperatures, 釉配製而成，其氧化鐵含量甚低，適於薄施輕塗，可用還
which was probably produced using a highly feldspathic low-lime 原焰窯燒後，再在氧化環境中冷卻。由於有大量色調可
porcelain glaze with a low iron oxide content, and which could 供選擇，所以畫師可恣意渲染濃淡深淺的褐色和橘紅色、
be applied thinly, fired in reduction and cooled in oxidation. The 深褐色和黑色，以仿製出像本拍品般寫實逼真的木紋。
wide range of colours available, including an extremely subtle
range of browns and orangey reds, dark brown and black, allowed 此類雍正仿木紋筆筒的數量極少，大多採內壁仿木，器
the ceramic decorator to create the very realistic wood effect on 外 飾 一 上 一 下 兩 道 仿 木 紋 中 間 飾 山 水 圖 的 形 式， 視 覺
the current brush pot. 效果仿若手卷。此筆筒的畫風與明大家吳門沈周 (1427-
1509 年 ) 的作品有頗多相似之處，參考上海博物館藏沈
Only a very small number of porcelains with faux bois decoration 周 1488 年作《水村山塢圖卷》( 圖一 )，圖見《上海博物
from the Yongzheng reign are known and these are predominantly 館藏明四家精品選集》編號 7( 香港：1996)。雍正款同類
brush pots with faux bois interiors and exterior bands framing 型的筆筒似僅見北京故宮博物院珍藏一例，圖見《故宮
painterly landscapes which encircle the brush pots in the manner 博物院藏文物珍品大系 – 文玩》頁 98，編號 68 ( 上海：
of hand scrolls. The painting style of the present brush pot is 2009)( 圖二 )。北京故宮博物院另藏一件紋飾相仿，無
closely related to great artists of the mid-Ming period such as 款，定年雍正的筆筒，圖見《故宮珍藏康雍乾瓷器圖錄》
Shen Zhou (1427-1509), one of the leading masters of the Wu 頁 239 編號 68 ( 北京：1989)( 圖三 )。倫敦維多利亞與艾
School. An example of the artist’s work that is closely related to 伯特博物館亦珍藏一例與本拍品比例相近的雍正筆筒，
the present landscape painting is a hand scroll in the Shanghai 但其外壁主紋飾帶繪粉彩山水人物圖，圖見柯玫瑰所著
Museum Collection, illustrated in Ming Sijia Jingpin Xuanji, ‘Four
Masters of the Ming Dynasty’, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 7, entitled
Water Village and Dock amidst Mountains and Rivers, dated 1488
(fig. 1). It appears that only one other Yongzheng-marked brush
pot with similar decorative scheme to the current example
has been published, and is illustrated in Small Refined Articles of
the Study, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum, Shanghai, 2009, p. 98, no. 68 (fig. 2). An unmarked
brush pot of similar design dating to the Yongzheng period is also
in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, (illustrated in
Kangxi,Yongzheng, Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum
Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 239, no. 68 (fig. 3). A Yongzheng
brush pot, of similar proportions to the current example, but

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