Page 36 - Sotheby's Asia Week March 2024 Chinee Art

Veiled with a luminous glaze, the present vase is extremely
本瓶珍稀罕見，仿汝釉明亮雅緻，彰顯乾隆年間江西
rare and represents the height of innovation and technical 景德鎮匠心造詣。此瓶器型勻稱，球狀碩腹，圈足，
perfection achieved at the Jingdezhen kilns in Jiangxi 瓶頸修長，上開七小圓孔如蓮蓬狀。蓮蓬造型配仿汝
province during the Qianlong Emperor’s reign. Remarkable 釉色，體現藝匠巧思，堪稱一絕，燒成佳瓷迎合皇帝
for its perfection in form, its generous, rounded sides 美學喜好。
rise from a short foot to a long, slender neck, terminating
in a lotus-pod-form mouth with seven equally spaced 蓮花出淤泥而不染，多為純潔、正直象徵，更能代表
apertures to the top. The ingenuous incorporation of the 儒家崇尚德行之觀念。此外，蓮花亦屬重要佛教符號
lotus-pod-form with the soft, attractive Ru-imitation glaze 象徵，代表得道成佛、超脫物質世界及輪迴等概念。
furthermore speaks to the kilns’ creative ability to produce 大清皇帝如康熙御令燒製傳統紋飾瓷器，乾隆皇帝當
wares that highly catered to the Emperor’s own aesthetic
taste and affinities. 然亦熟悉相關傳統概念，登位後繼續以之作為宮廷藝
術主題。乾隆曾寫御製詩無數，其中包括多首讚賞
Rising immaculately undefiled from the muddy waters, the 承德避暑山莊蓮池之作。比較郎世寧畫《弘曆觀荷
lotus was frequently associated with purity, integrity and 撫琴圖軸》，現藏北京故宮博物院（藏品編號：故
most importantly, the Confucian notion of virtue. The aquatic
flower also became associated with Buddhism, symbolizing 00006476），刻劃乾隆身著傳統漢服，在水邊亭台觀
the power of the soul to emerge from the physical world, 荷撫琴，身伴荷花盛放，整齊排列瓶中，進一步展示
samsara, and to achieve enlightenment. Obviously aware of 弘曆愛荷之情。本瓶形仿蓮蓬，相信乃乾隆帝御令或
these traditional notions, the Qianlong Emperor, similar to 宮廷指定特製，以擺放鮮花，供乾隆帝個人欣賞。
his predecessors, continued to sponsor artworks featuring
such motifs. Known to be a prolific poet, the Qianlong
Emperor especially enjoyed his stays at the imperial gardens
of Chengde, and composed countless poems praising the
lotus ponds there. In a painting scroll, attributed to Giuseppe
Castiglione, now in the Palace Museum, Beijing (accession
no. 故00006476), Qianlong is seen dressed in a traditional
Han-style robe, playing the qin in a pavilion over the water
looking out to the open lotus pond below. To his side,
blooming stems of lotus flowers and lotus leaves are neatly
arranged in a vase, further pointing to the Emperor’s special
fondness of the flower. Vases, like the present, were then
likely ordered by the Emperor or the court to imitate the
shape of a lotus pod for the arrangement of flowers to be
personally enjoyed by the Qianlong Emperor himself.
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