Page 75 - Christie's Important Chinese Works of Art, May 31 to June 1, 2023 Hong Kong

Treasures of the Palace Museum, op. cit., p. 135, no. 121), while similar
Ming-inspired flowering and fruiting sprays combined with lingzhi
fungus can be seen on a Qianlong meiping vase in the same collection
(illustrated ibid., p. 131, no. 117) (fig. 3). It is noteworthy that on the
current hexagonal vase the so-called ‘heaping and piling’ of the cobalt
blue, associated with early Ming dynasty porcelains, has been imitated
with especial subtlety and delicacy – unlike the rather mannered
‘spotting’ which can be seen on the majority of 18th century blue and
white decorated in Ming style.

The cobalt blue used to decorate the current vase is of very high quality
and its jewel-like colour creates an effective contrast with the purity
of the finely-textured white porcelain. This has been used to good
advantage by the decorator, who has left a generous amount of white
space around the highly detailed decorative motifs, ensuring them even
greater visual prominence. The careful shaping and placement of the
individual decorative elements allows them to complement the form of
the vase – especially the elements placed on the corners of the facets.
The hexagonal shape, which extends to both the mouth rim and the
foot rim of the vase, would have provided a challenge for the potter.
Any faceted form runs the risk of splitting along the sharp vertical
junctions during firing, and with a vase of this large size that risk is
increased. The potters would have had to ensure that the all the sides

fig. 1 Collection of the Musée Guimet
Photo (C) RMN-Grand Palais (MNAAG, Paris) / Richard Lambert
圖一 吉美博物館藏品

頭紋而言，近似例為一例乾隆梅瓶，圖見同一著作頁131編
號117（圖三）。尤須一提的是，明初瓷器以青料「深厚堆垛」
見稱，而本六方尊仿燒的效果格外精湛細膩，迥異於十八世
紀仿明青花瓷多以重筆點染來模仿結晶斑點之手法。

此尊紋飾所用的鈷藍極為講究，其寶藍色澤與瑩潔的白胎對
比鮮明。畫師巧加利用這一特色，在紋飾繁密處周邊大量留
白，使主題益發突出。各裝飾元素的構圖和佈局疏密有致，
與器形環環相扣，其中又以棱面交接處的紋樣尤具巧思。本
拍品口沿起六條棱線，下延至底足，對陶工而言燒造難度極
大。所有棱面器物，均存在窯燒時棱面折角易裂的難題，本
拍品器型如斯敦碩，是以問題愈加明顯。陶工必須確保所有
棱面厚薄一致、嚴絲合縫，方能避免窯燒之際開裂變形。及
至十八世紀，御窯的青花和單色釉棱面瓷器數量大增，足證
當時的窯燒技術已臻上乘。

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