Page 66 - Sotheby's Jie Rui Tang Collection Part II Kangxi Porcelain March 2019

348 AN EXTREMELY 清康熙 青花獸面紋方熏爐
RARE BLUE AND
WHITE TWO-TIER
CENSER AND COVER

Qing Dynasty, Kangxi Period PROVENANCE 來源
of square section, the lower section with Christie’s New York, 27th November 1991, lot 紐約佳士得1991年11月27日，編號378
straight sides terminating in a flat rim and 378. 桑托斯，倫敦，1997年
raised on four short baluster-form legs, Alberto Santos, London, 1997.
each of the sides painted in deep tones of 展覽
cobalt blue with a broad taotie mask, the EXHIBITED 《抱古融今：潔蕊堂藏康熙瓷器展》，蘇富
features meticulously outlined with white slip Embracing Classic Chinese Culture, Kangxi 比，紐約，2014年3月，編號9
decoration, all within a classic scroll border, Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection,
the conforming middle section with openwork Sotheby’s New York. March, 2014, cat. no. 9. 出版
and similarly decorated, the archaistic motif LITERATURE Jeffrey P. Stamen、Cynthia Volk 及倪亦斌，
repeated on the reticulated, canted cover 《文采卓然：潔蕊堂藏康熙盛世瓷》，布呂
surmounted with a lion-form knop (3), coll. Jeffrey P. Stamen, Cynthia Volk with Yibin Ni, A 赫，2017年，圖版86
no. 168 Culture Revealed, Kangxi-Era Chinese Porcelain
from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, Bruges, 2017,
Height 7½ in., 19 cm
cat. no. 86.
$ 30,000-50,000

The archaistic decoration of this censer is on four lion-mask feet, from the collection of means to experience and appreciate the
inspired by ancient bronzes of the Shang and Mr. Henry Hirsch is illustrated in R.L. Hobson, distant past in a modern way. For examples
Zhou dynasties. The taotie mask remains one The Later Ceramic Wares of China, New York, of Kangxi period porcelains decorated with
of the most enigmatic yet enduring motifs 1925, pl. LIII, described as a ‘cricket cage’. A large scale taotie masks, see a remarkable
from antiquity. Only one other identical related censer of similar form but decorated zun-form blue and white vase illustrated in The
censer is known, with primarily iron-red in famille-verte with a bamboo motif, formerly Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities Bulletin, no.
decoration, from the Qing Court Collection in the collection of Lord Kitchner, then in the 46, (1974), p. 73, where the author, Jan Wirgin,
and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Percival David Foundation Collection, and compares it to a covered bowl in the Guimet
Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains now in the collection of the British Museum, Museum which appears in several paintings
in Polychrome and Contrasting Colours, London, is illustrated in Illustrated Catalogue by Willem Kalf, one of which is dated to 1662;
Hong Kong, 1999, pl.86 (fig. 1) and again in of Ch’ing Enamelled Ware in the Percival David and another vase, of fanghu shape with
Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong Porcelain from Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1973, pl. similarly broad bands of large stylized taotie in
the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, XI, A812. the Museum fur Kunsthandwerk in Frankfurt
1989, pl. 65. A famille-verte example with During the Kangxi period, the emperor, am Main illustrated in Gunhild Gabbert,
similar taotie mask decoration but resting Chinesisches Porzellan, Frankfurt am Main,
an avid student of history, respected and
admired the cultural tradition of venerating 1977, pl. 92. A rare blue and white archaistic
the past. The famous Ming dynasty writer Wen vessel with similarly tiered taotie masks and
Zhenheng described the artifacts inspired by with a dated inscription corresponding to the
year 1669 was sold at Sotheby’s London, 13th
antiquity as zhangwu, ‘superfluous things’.
This humble term implied that contemporary December 1988, lot 231. For an example of a
iterations of works of art inspired by antiquity Western Zhou dynasty bronze of a type that
were mere playthings in comparison to their may have served as inspiration for the present
censer, see a bronze gui from the Qing Court
ancient counterparts. Building on the firmly
established cultural tradition to study and Collection, the square base and rounded sides
learn from antiquity, material adaptations of crisply cast with large-scale taotie, illustrated
archaic decorative motifs onto various media in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the
Palace Museum, Bronze Ritual Vessels and
provided the Qing dynasty elite with a tangible
Musical Instruments, Hong Kong, 2006, pl. 32.

Fig. 1 Iron-red and gilt three part censer and cover
© The Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing
圖一 五彩加金獸面紋方熏爐 © 故宮博物院收藏 北京

64 SOTHEBY’S