Page 24 - March 17, 2020 Impotant Chinese Art, Sotheby's, New York

IMPERIAL PORCELAIN WITH
AN EXOTIC TOUCH

REGINA KRAHL
御瓷中的異域風情

康蕊君

The Yongle court (1403 – 1424) brought a very distinctive new 大明永樂一朝，江西景德鎮御窰開創新穎
style to the porcelain kilns of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi, a style 瓷風，所成珍瓷特征鮮明獨特，成就卓
immediately recognizable, never surpassed, and defining 絕，直至十八世紀仍屬製瓷典範。本盌無
the craft still in the eighteenth century. In every respect, this
delicate bowl is a quintessential Yongle product, made for the 論從器形、紋飾等各方面，皆屬永樂之經
court, showing the striking combination of superb material 典、宮廷御製之上乘，一抹異域之風，極
and painting with a slightly exotic design that characterizes 具特色，尤為稀珍。
imperial porcelain of this period.
Yongle was the period when the Ming (1368-1644) came into 永樂一朝，大明之盛世。永樂帝雄心壯
its own. The Emperor was ambitious, reaching out to foreign 志，遠交外邦，振興藝事。永樂朝不僅朝
countries, determined to use the country’s assets not only for 廷任命專員督燒景德鎮以及龍泉官瓷，同
his own delectation but also to showcase China’s superiority
abroad. He had court officials take over not only the produc- 時還包括佛教造像及漆器等製作，甚至可
tion of porcelains at Jingdezhen and of celadons at Longquan, 能連紡織、印刷及其它工藝成作亦均接
but also of Buddhist bronze sculptures, carved lacquerware, 管。各門藝術自元代起已珍品層出，永樂
probably textile weaving, book printing and other crafts. In all 宮廷接管後則更臻新高。
these media, fine products had been created since the Yuan
dynasty (1279 – 1368) or longer; patronage and pilotage by 景德鎮御器廠何時設立，確切日期現時尚
the Yongle court lifted them to completely new levels.
未有定論，但洪武年間，朝廷曾委派官員
The exact date of the official establishment of an Imperial 前往景德鎮監督瓷器燒製。文獻記載永樂
Porcelain Factory in Jingdezhen is a matter of debate, but
in the Hongwu period (1368 – 1398) already, the court had 年間宮廷命景德鎮製瓷，一批共三十萬件
commissioned porcelains and sent officials to Jingdezhen to 成品。自宣德朝起，朝廷委派宦官自京城
supervise the firing. For the Yongle reign, there are records of 遠赴景德鎮監造，有些宦官對製瓷無甚了
a successfully completed imperial order of 300,000 pieces. 解，亦時有舞弊情況出現，但其中也不乏
While from the Xuande reign (1426 – 1435) onwards, eunuchs 表現傑出者。永樂年間，更曾有設立廟龕
were often sent to the Jingdezhen kilns from far-away Beijing
to control an industry they did not understand – positions 紀念督陶官之事蹟（林業強，《達文堂藏
prone to abuse – the earlier supervisors were officials di- 瓷》，香港，2019年，頁16-31（中文），
rected from one local post to another, and some seem to have 頁35-59（英文）。
been well suited to the task; in the Yongle period, one of them
even got a shrine erected in his memory (see Peter Y.K. Lam, 永樂年間瓷器品質上乘，無疑得益於朝廷
Dawentang cang ci/Chinese Ceramics from the Dawentang 的直接參與。朝廷命藝匠大批製瓷，聘畫
Collection, Hong Kong, 2019, pp. 16-31, Chinese, and 35-59,
English). 師專職繪畫紋飾，並委派專員監督，御瓷
製作更為專業精良。洪武年間，青花瓷成
品差強人意，即便是製得佳品，但其中奧

44 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10644 45