Page 74 - Christie's, The Palmer Family Collection May 31 to June 1, 2023 Hong Kong

same high standard as that on the falangcai pieces. is referred to by Chen Liu 陳瀏 the author of the Tao ya 陶雅
(Ceramic Refinements), published in 1910 and translated into
The prunus on the current dish is also exceptionally well English by G.R. Sayer in T’ao ya (Pottery Refinements), 1959.
painted, and the ceramic artist has included both white Chen notes that:
blossoming and pink blossoming branches. Again, it is a
mark of the care taken with this decoration that the painter ‘In painting flowers and birds on porcelain the birds should
has depicted a grey-barked branch for the white blossoms not be very big nor the flowers very small otherwise the
and a brown-barked branch for the pink blossoms. This is unity of the picture is lost.’ (G.R. Sayer translation, p.
the same approach as that seen on dishes such as the yellow- 77). For further discussion see Rosemary Scott, ‘18th
backed Yongzheng dish with six-character underglaze blue century overglaze enamels: the influence of technological
mark illustrated in the 1992 Taipei catalogue pp. 206-7, no. development on painting style’, Style in the East Asian
104. This latter dish also includes bamboo in the decorative Tradition – Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No.
scheme, but no birds. 14, Rosemary Scott (ed.), London, 1987, pp. 149-68.
Prunus blossom is one of the most popular choices for floral The black back of this famille rose dish is extremely rare.
decoration in the Chinese decorative arts, and particularly However, a pair of black-backed Yongzheng-marked
the porcelains made for the court of the Yongzheng emperor. dishes of exactly the same size is in the Zhuyuetang 竹月堂
It has auspicious meaning, suggesting perseverance, purity, collection (illustrated in A Millennium of Monochromes from
and vigorous old age. It also suggests renewal and is regarded the Great Tang to the High Qing – The Baur and the Zhuyuetang
as heralding spring. The five petals of its flowers are taken to Collections, Geneva, 2018, pp. 260-1, nos. 114 a & b; and in
represent the five blessings of long life, health, wealth, love of Shimmering Colours – Monochromes of the Yuan to Qing Periods
virtue and a peaceful death. – The Zhuyuetang Collection, Hong Kong, 2005, p. 236, no.
158) (Fig. 4). The Zhuyuetang dishes also have famille rose
Bamboo also has auspicious messages, for it represents decoration on the interior, but in this case the decoration is
humility and fidelity as well as moral integrity and peace. restricted to four small pink and white prunus flowers ranged
Sparrows, as mentioned above represent happiness and, like just inside the rim. Like the current dish, the Zhuyuetang
the prunus blossom, approaching spring. piece has a six-character mark on the base in underglaze blue.
The decoration on the current dish is visually very The revival of black glazes on porcelain is attributed to the
harmonious, and it is only when examining each feature Kangxi reign (1662-1722) and this reign was particularly
individually and then comparing it to other elements of the associated with the development of the so-called ‘mirror
design that one becomes aware that the scale of the birds in black’ glaze, the depth of colour and texture of which were
relation to the flower heads is not a natural one. The birds enhanced by the addition of manganese and cobalt to the
are rather small in relation to the size of the flowers. In fact, iron used to colour the glaze. However, it is significant that
this is a common, and deliberate, feature of bird and flower in the last year of the Yongzheng reign, 1735, the famous
painting on imperial porcelains of the Yongzheng reign, and supervisor of the Imperial factory at Jingdezhen, Tang Ying

是1992年臺北展覽圖錄頁206-7編號104所示的青花六字楷 Sayer的英譯本著於1959年) 中亦曾提及。據陳氏所言：「瓷
書款外黃地雍正盤。該盤紋飾結合了翠竹，但無雀鳥紋。 品之畫花鳥者，鳥不可甚大，花不可甚小，反是則於畫理欠合。」
(英譯可參照G.R. Sayer譯本頁77)。關於進一步的探討，詳
綜觀中國裝飾藝術的熱門花卉題材，梅花可謂中流砥柱，此言 見拙作<18th century overglaze enamels: the influence
尤適用於雍正御瓷。梅花乃禎祥之物，喻指堅靭不拔、剛正不 of technological development on painting style>，全文
阿、老當益壯。另外，梅亦象徵萬象更新、春回大地。梅開五瓣， 發表於筆者主編的《Style in the East Asian Tradition –
借指「五福」，即長壽、富貴、康寧、好德、善終。翠竹同樣寓意 Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No. 14》頁149-
祥瑞，隱含謙和內歛、忠貞不渝之意，更代表高風亮節、安貧樂 68 (倫敦：1987)。
道。如上所述，麻雀被視為歡樂喜慶的化身，常與梅花合指梅
雀爭春。 此例粉彩盤的外黑底罕見之極。話雖如此，竹月堂亦珍藏一對
外黑底雍正盤，其大小與本品一般無二，圖見《千載霓霞：鮑氏
乍看之下，此盤的紋飾雋永和諧，唯有細觀個別題材，再對比 東方藝術館及竹月堂藏唐至清一道釉》頁260-1編號114a及b (
圖中別的元素，方意識到花與鳥的大小比例並不合理。相對於 日內瓦：2018)；另可參見《五色瓊霞：竹月堂藏元明清一道釉瓷
梅花而言，麻雀的體積偏小。實際上，此乃雍正御瓷花鳥畫刻 器》頁236編號158 (香港：2005) (圖四)。該對竹月堂瓷盤內雖
意為之的常用佈局，陳瀏在其著作《陶雅》(1910年成書，G.R. 然也有粉彩紋飾，但僅限於口沿之下的粉紅與白色梅花四朶。

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