Page 45 - 2019 October Important Chinese Ceramics Sotheby's Hong Kong

n its material, form and design, this impressive guan is a striking representation of blue and white porcelain from the Yuan dynasty,
a highly innovative and experimental period when cobalt blue began to be used on porcelain. The painting of the floral scroll is bold
I yet elaborate, with careful shading and finely combed details, and white flying horses are depicted in strikingly lively poses over a
ground of waves.

Revered as animals of perseverance and speed, horses were often depicted on paintings and works of art of the Yuan dynasty. Fine horses
were highly valued at the Mongol court, and large suburban areas in and around the Yuan capital, Dadu, were reserved for the pasture
of royal horses. White horses were particularly sought-after by the people inhabiting the Eurasian steppe, and in the Yuan dynasty their
milk drunk solely by members of the court. Here, the horses are depicted flying over expanses of water, their movement captured in their
naturalistic and lively poses, and some feature flaming haunches. This rendition of horses evokes the story of the white horse that was
devoured by a dragon while carrying Buddhist scriptures from India to Xuanzang, a Tang dynasty (618-907) monk. On orders from
Guanyin, the bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy, the dragon was forced to turn itself into a white horse and complete the journey.
Jars painted on the shoulder with this design of horses are very rare, although a slightly larger jar and cover, illustrated in numerous
publications including Ye Peilan, Yuandai ciqi [Yuan dynasty porcelain], Beijing, 1998, col. pl. 58, was sold in these rooms, 11th April
2008, lot 2927. Another jar of this form and painted with horses, but with two dragons replacing the lotus scroll at the shoulder, from
the collection of Ottoman Sultans, in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, is illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi
Saray Museum, ed. John Ayers, Istanbul, London, 1986, vol. 2, col. pl. 586; one with petals, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is
published in Sir Harry Garner, Oriental Blue and White, London, 1973, pl. 21; and another from the collection of G. Rogers and later
in a Japanese collection, was sold in our London rooms, 3rd December 1963, lot 93. See also a meiping painted with this motif, in the
Topkapi Saray Museum, illustrated op.cit., pl. 585.
Jars of this form are also known painted on the ruyi-shaped panels with birds and scattered lotus flowers against waves, such as two jars
sold in our London rooms, 11th July 1967, lot 92, and 6th June 1995, lot 208 respectively.
The pendent ruyi motif on the shoulder is a recurrent design on blue and white porcelain of the Yuan period and may derive from
nomadic traditions of the time. In the painting Lady Wenji’s Return to the Han Court, by the 13th century Jin dynasty (1115-1234) court
painter Zhang Yu, Lady Wenji is depicted wearing an elaborate cloud collar draped over her clothing (Zhongguo meishu quanji. Huaha
bian [Complete series on Chinese art. Painting], vol. 3, Beijing, 1988, pl. 59).

瓷胎、器形、紋飾，此罐卓絕不凡，典雅大方。蒙元 斯坦堡托普卡比宮博物館，圖見康蕊君，《Chinese Ceramics
論 一朝，鈷青初興，藝匠落筆卻揮灑自如，大質勾勒， in the Topkapi Saray Museum》，約翰・艾爾斯編，伊斯坦堡，
小心渲染，連枝花卉剛柔並濟，配以海水飛馬，自然逼真，毫 倫敦，1986年，卷2，彩圖版586。牛津阿什莫林博物館藏品，
細盡現，遠觀近看也相宜。 以花瓣飾之，刊於迦納爵士，《Oriental Blue and White》，倫
敦，1973年，圖版21。G. Rogers 舊藏也有一例，後入日本珍
馬，既能馳騁疾跑，也能刻苦耐勞，元人尤重，當朝畫作藝品
蓄，1963年12月3日售於倫敦蘇富比，編號93。另見托普卡比宮
時有飾之。宮廷珍護良駒，在元大都周邊地區養飼宮皇室駿
博物館藏梅瓶，紋飾相類，前述出處，圖版585。
騎。歐亞草原群族對白馬更是情有獨鍾，有元一朝，白馬之奶
更只限宮廷享用。此罐肩上白馬，飛躍浪波上，輕盈俊美，活 器形相類之罐，也有在如意雲開光內繪鳥，並添落花流水，參
靈活現。其中個別身上帶有火焰，讓人聯想到唐朝玄奘往赴天 考倫敦蘇富比售出兩例，分別為1967年7月11日，編號92，以及
竺取經的故事。相傳三藏法師本有一馬，卻遭孽龍吞噬，觀世 1995年6月6日，編號208。
音菩薩為了懲罰孽龍，使之化成白馬為玄奘取經背書。
器肩上之如意雲紋，元代青花常見，或受當時遊牧民族風尚影
肩上畫馬之瓷罐寥寥，其中一罕例，尺寸稍大，帶蓋，著錄甚 響，金代十三世紀宮廷畫師張瑀筆下《文姬歸漢圖》中，文姬
豐，見葉佩蘭，《元代瓷器》，北京，1998年，圖版58，2008 所穿華衣便綴有如意雲肩，圖見《中國美術全集．繪畫編》 ，
年4月11日在香港蘇富比拍出，編號2927。奧斯曼蘇丹珍藏另 卷3，北京，1988年，圖版59。
有一罐，形與此類，也畫馬，但器肩以雙龍代蓮花，現藏伊

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