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         A FAMILLE ROSE ‘BOY AND CHICKEN’ CUP              The poem is in praise of well-known works of art from earlier periods
         QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER FANGGU SEAL MARK, WITH AN   and in particular to Ming dynasty chicken cups. As with most of
         INSCRIPTION DATED TO BINGSHEN YEAR, CORRESPONDING TO   Qianlong’s poems, there are many archaic references. In this instance,
         1776, AND OF THE PERIOD                           the Emperor mentioned the child prodigy, Jia Chang ( 713-?), as
                                                           depicted by the image of the boy on the present cup. At the age of
         The deep U-shaped body finely painted with the scene of Jia   thirteen, Jia Chang was such a talented trainer of fighting cocks that
         Chang stamping his left foot to call the chickens in a setting of blue   the Tang dynasty emperor Xuanzong (r. 713-56) employed him to train
         rocks and peonies, the boy depicted facing the rooster while the   the imperial fighting cocks. The design on these cups is therefore often
         hen and four chicks are shown to the reverse side beneath a poetic   known as ‘the precocious boy’.
         inscription.
         3 ¿ in. (8 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box          清乾隆   粉彩御題雞缸盃  《大清乾隆仿古》 篆書款
         HK$600,000-800,000             US$78,000-100,000  盃敞口,深腹,臥足。外壁通體繪庭園雞戲圖。庭園中洞石嶙峋,牡丹
         Cups of this type are based on earlier Chenghua doucai prototypes   爭艷,雄雞昂首前行與童子嬉戲,四隻小雞隨母雞覓食。留白處墨彩書
         such as a pair of similar shape, but decorated with chickens only,   「李唐越器人間無,趙宋官窰晨星看。殷周鼎彝世頗多,堅脆之質於焉
         included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Government Exhibits for   辨。堅樸脆巧久暫分,立德踐行義可玩。朱明去此弗甚遙,宣成雅具時
         International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, vol. II, Porcelain, 1948,
         p. 130, no. 171.                                  猶見。寒芒秀采總稱珍,就中雞缸最為冠。牡丹麗日春風和,牝雞逐對
                                                           雄雞絢。金尾鐵距首昂藏,怒勢如聽賈昌喚。良工物態肖無遺,趨華風
         The mark on the base of all of these cups reads Da Qing Qianlong   氣隨時變。我獨警心在齊詩,不敢耽安興以晏。乾隆丙申,御題」。詩
         fanggu, which translates as ‘made in imitation of antiquity in the
         Qianlong reign of the Great Qing dynasty’. The imitation of antiquity,   尾落紅彩「三」(乾)圓印文、「隆」篆書方印文。底書青花「大清乾
         or archaism, was a theme close to the Qianlong Emperor’s heart and   隆仿古」篆書款。
         a considerable number of imperial art objects in a range of different
         media bear this mark. The correct rendering of the mark was given   此盃為乾隆帝賞玩之物,他好古慕雅,對欣賞的古物往往加以仿製。此
         by D. Howard and J. Ayers when they included a similar cup in their   器雖不似成化造器纖巧輕盈,然造型精巧,胎質瑩潤,釉色艷麗秀雅,
         catalogue of the Mottahedeh Collection, Chinese for the West, London/  繪圖栩栩如生,彌足珍貴。此器製於丙申年,為1776年,乾隆四十一
         New York, 1978, vol. 1, pp. 171-2, no. 165, in which they date the cup to   年。
         the Qianlong reign. A cup of this type was also published as dating to
         the Qianlong period by S. Bushell, who translated the poem in Oriental   同樣的乾隆粉彩題詩雞缸盃可見於故宮博物院、北京首都博物館等著名
         Ceramic Art, New York, 1899, pp. 49-51.           典藏機構。















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