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PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN 明嘉靖 五彩纏枝蓮托八吉祥紋方罐 《大明嘉
A SMALL WUCAI ‘BAJIXIANG AND LOTUS’ 靖年製》款
SQUARE BALUSTER JAR, MARK AND PERIOD
OF JIAJING 來源
香港蘇富比1986年11月19日，編號213
the recessed base with a six-character mark in underglaze 天民樓收藏
blue within a double square, wood stand (2)
Height 4¾ in., 12 cm 香港蘇富比2019年5月29日，編號18
展覽
PROVENANCE
《天民樓藏瓷》，香港藝術館，香港，1987年，編
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 19th November 1986, lot 213. 號72
The Tianminlou Collection.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 29th May 2019, lot 18. 文獻
劉良佑，《中國歷代陶瓷鑑賞》，卷4：明官窰，台
EXHIBITED
北，1991年，頁204（下）
Chinese Porcelain in the S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection,
Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. no. 72.
LITERATURE
Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 4: Ming
Official Wares, Taipei, 1991, p. 204 (bottom).
Jars of this square form decorated with such vibrant designs
were an innovation of the Jiajing period that displays the
creative freedom enjoyed by potters active in this period.
The colorful wucai palette, allowed potters to create
increasingly complex and colorful motifs, as cobalt blue was
used for coloring and not only for delineating outlines as in
the doucai (‘dove-tailed colors’) color scheme. While Jiajing
potters did not develop completely new colors or decorative
techniques, they creatively expanded the range of styles and
color schemes to create bolder designs.
Compare three jars of this type sold in our London rooms,
the first, from the collection of Stephen D. Winkworth,
25th April 1933, lot 347, the second with cover, from the
collection of Lord Hollenden, 27th November 1973, lot
297, and the third of slightly larger size, from the Joseph
M. Morpurgo Collection, 11th May 2016, lot 171; two jars
sold at Christie’s London, 21st April 1986, lots 412 and 413,
the former sold again in our London rooms, 12th December
1989, lot 309; and a further example sold at Christie’s Hong
Kong, 5th/6th September 1997, lot 1051.
This motif continued to be popular in the succeeding Wanli
reign (r. 1573-1620), when it was used on jars of globular
shape; see for example a Wanli mark and period jar in the
Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao
ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 4-23; and
another, from the collection of Kwong Yee Che Tong, included
in the exhibition The Fame of Flame. Imperial Wares of the
Jiajing and Wanli Periods, Art Gallery, The Chinese University
of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2009, cat. no. 107.

⊖ $ 50,000-70,000

342 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11744 343