Page 60 - Important Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, Hong Kong

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A RARE QINGBAI MOULDED AND CARVED ‘RABBIT’ EWER
AND COVER

YUAN DYNASTY (1279-1368)

Each side of the pear-shaped body is incised with a rabbit looking over its shoulder at a floral spray,
below a further band of incised floral sprays and above a band of moulded upright petals. The body is
applied with a dragon-form handle opposite to a curved spout emerging from the mouth of a dragon.
The cover is carved with rows of lotus petals surmounted by a lion-form finial. Both are covered
under a translucent glaze of bluish-green tone.

12 ¬ in. (31.5 cm.) high, box

HK$1,000,000-1,200,000 US$130,000-160,000

Ewers of this type have been dated to the first quarter of the 14th century. The combination
of different motifs and decorative techniques such as incising, moulding and sculpting, reflect a
heightened pursuit of ornamentation popular during this period.

Compare to two related qingbai ewers decorated with phoniex in low relief on the body, one
without a cover, illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu: Liao, Jin, Yuan, vol. 13, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 42,
and the second with a stepped cover surmounted by a similarly sculpted lion, formerly in the
Meiyintang Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7 April 2011, lot 39.

A similar fragment of a dragon handle, excavated from the Yuan remains at Luomaqiao, Jingdezhen,
Jiangxi province, is illustrated in Ceramic Finds from Jingdezhen Kilns (10th-17th Century), Fung Ping
Shan Museum, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1992, no. 116.

元 青白釉刻兔紋龍柄獅鈕水注

此執壺之斷代當屬十四世紀上半葉之器物。其造型、紋飾、雕工堪稱精湛絕倫。壺蓋頸部之瓣形樣式
極為珍罕，未有所見。

近似例可參考兩件貼花鳳紋的青白執壺，一件缺蓋，載於《世界陶瓷全集：遼‧金‧元》，第13冊，
東京，1981年，圖版42號；另一件為玫茵堂舊藏，帶有梯形塑瓷獅鈕蓋， 2011年4月7日於香港蘇富
比拍賣，拍品39號。

一件近似此器之龍首手柄殘件，於江西景德鎮落馬橋窯址出土，可見於1992年於香港出版的《景德
鎮出土陶瓷》，圖版116號。

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