Page 111 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

THE KEMPE COLLECTION DINGYAO CYLINDER

JULIAN THOMPSON

Among the wu da mingyao (Five Great Wares) of the
Song Dynasty, Ru, guan, ge, Ding and Jun, the holding of
Dingyao from the Qing court collection, now in the Palace
Museum, Taipei is the largest and was the subject of a
special exhibition held at the museum in 1987. Both carved
and moulded Dingyao pieces were much in demand for use
in the imperial palace in both the Northern Song and Jin
dynasties, replacing the Xingyao wares of the late Tang and
Five Dynasties. Looking at the range of shapes in the Special
Exhibition catalogue it is remarkable how few pieces are
of any shape other than dishes or bowls. In the very large
collection of white wares formed by the Swedish industrialist
Dr Carl Kempe the Dingyao pieces are also almost all dishes
and bowls of a variety of patterns. Among the exceptions is
the Dingyao cylinder under discussion here.
Close examination of the cylinder indicates that a base has
been inset in antiquity into the lower end of the cylinder,
which has been slightly ground around the lower rim so
that the base could be tightly fitted. There seems to be
no evidence that it was originally made with a base and it
is probable that it was originally made as an open-ended
cylindrical stand. The insertion of the base would have
made it suitable for use as a brush washer. Dingyao brush
washers from the Qing court collection of the same shape
but of much smaller size see similarities to the cylinder in
that there are engraved key-fret borders around both sides
of the rim, and around the base, and the principal carved
decoration is a small chilong medallion in the centre of the
base.
No similar piece is in the Palace Museums in Taipei or
Beijing, and a search of collections in the West has also
failed to find any comparable piece.

卡爾坎普舊藏定窰圓筒形器

朱湯生

總覽兩岸故宮博物院之清宮舊藏宋代瓷器，在宋五大
名窰、即汝、官、哥、鈞及定中，定窰白瓷被清宮入
藏的數量最為可觀，以至台北故宮博物院最早於1987
年便能舉辦首次「定窰白瓷特展」。定窰美器，北宋
至金，無論劃花還是印花，均受清宮皇帝的青睞，在
皇室中風靡，其地位逐漸取代晚唐和五代時期的邢窰
白瓷。然細觀清宮舊藏特展中定窰器物的種類，則
盤、盌為數較多，其他器型並不多見。另如知名收藏
家、瑞典工業家卡爾坎普博士，其收藏以金銀器、陶
瓷為主，而陶瓷中尤以歷代白瓷最豐，然其中盤、盌
仍在器型中佔比最多，但這件定窰圓筒形器無疑是他
舊藏中一個例外。
細審此件圓筒形器，口沿無釉，但可見古人嵌底其
下，且細磨器緣，使得緊合，嚴絲合縫。但似乎無
任何跡象及證據表明此圓筒形器在燒造初時配底，似
為製作兩頭相通之圓柱形瓷器座而燒，器底開筒後加
之，加底後，可成一筆洗。對比清宮舊藏的定窰刻花
龍紋洗，雖大部分尺寸更小，螭紋刻於器內底中心，
但洗口沿內外均裝飾與此圓筒形器上下緣相似的回
紋。

於北京或台北故宮博物院均不見此物，西方收藏中亦
莫能出其右，是為孤品。

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