An extremely rare and important imperial copper-red glazed moulded 'dragon' bowl, Ming dynasty, Hongwu period | 明洪武　紅釉印雲龍紋大盌

Collection of the Chang Foundation, Taipei.

Treasures from the Chang Foundation, National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, 1996, cat. no. 5.

The present bowl belongs to a rare and distinctive group of anhua dragon porcelains of the Hongwu period, representing the earliest emergence of imperial red wares intended for ceremonial use.

Copper-red has always been one of the most technically challenging glazes in the history of Chinese porcelain. Already attempted in the Yuan dynasty, the results were notoriously unpredictable. Copper-red glazes of the Hongwu period are instantly recognisable by their soft and mottled pinkish tones, a result of the variable reduction atmosphere in the kiln and the unpredictable behaviour of copper pigment at high temperatures, which contrasts with the brighter, scarlet tones perfected later under the Yongle and Xuande Emperors, as well as the deeper, browner reds often seen in preceding Yuan examples.

Wares of this type have previously been attributed to the late Yuan dynasty; however, fragments bearing this design were unearthed at the site of the Ming imperial palace in Nanjing. Discovered together with Hongwu blue-and-white and underglaze-red porcelains near the Jade Belt River (Yudaihe), which bordered the inner palace buildings, these finds suggest these pieces were imperial wares produced exclusively for the imperial family. Notably, a fragmentary bowl of about 20 cm diameter, comparable in size and similar to the present rare piece, was excavated from the Hongwu stratum of the imperial kiln sites, illustrated in Imperial Porcelains from the Reigns of Hongwu, Yongle in the Ming Dynasty: A Comparison of Porcelains from the Imperial Kiln Site at Jingdezhen and Imperial Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, 2015, pl. 200.

Surviving examples of this rare design are exceptionally few. Only seven other copper-red bowls of this type appear to be recorded, all but one preserved today in major museum collections. It appears that they were produced in three size categories, of which the present piece represents the largest. With its generous 21 cm diameter, it appears to be the only complete extant example of this size known in private hands, the only other of comparable dimension being the aforementioned excavated fragment.

Smaller known examples include a bowl (16.5 cm) in the British Museum, London, from the Eumorfopoulos Collection, acc. no. 1936,1012.107; another (also 16.5 cm) in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, from the Ataka Collection, illustrated in Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 13, 1981, col. pls 235-6. Two much smaller bowls (9.5 and 10 cm) are preserved in the Taipei Palace Museum, acc. nos guci 13216 and 13217; another (9.8 cm) in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, acc. no. C.138-1963; and one (10 cm) in the Cleveland Museum of Art, from the collections of V.W. Shriro, and Severance and Greta Millikin, acc. no. 1964.222; its companion bowl (also 10 cm and formerly in the V.W. Shriro Collection) was sold in our London rooms, 28th May 1963, lot 124.

Similar design can also be found on dishes and stem cups, as well as in other monochrome and bi-chrome glazes; see, for example, a blue-and-brown bi-chrome glazed bowl of comparable size, sold in these rooms, 9th October 2020, lot 46.

來源

鴻禧美術館收藏，台北

展覽

《鴻禧集珍》，中國歷史博物館，北京，1996年，編號5

此紅釉印雲龍紋大盌屬極罕品類，乃有明一代最早專為儀禮燒造的御用紅釉器之典範。

銅紅釉素為中國陶瓷史中最具技術挑戰之品種。元代雖已試燒，然呈色極難掌控。洪武朝之銅紅釉器釉色柔潤且略呈斑駁粉韻，獨具本朝特色，蓋因窰內還原氣氛多變，加之銅料於高溫下反應無常所致。其紅有別於永宣時期所臻明艷朱紅，亦與元代多見之深沈褐紅迥異。

因為無款，此類器物曾一度被斷代元代晚期，然南京明故宮遺址出土紋飾相同瓷片，結合宮墻外圍玉帶河附近發現的洪武青花、釉裏紅殘器，可確證其為洪武宮廷御製。尤值一提的是，御窰遺址洪武地層曾出土一件直徑約20公分的殘盌，其尺寸紋飾與本品相類，載於《明代洪武永樂御窰瓷器：景德鎮御窰遺址出土與故宮博物院藏傳世瓷器對比》，北京，2015年，圖版200。

存世同類完整紅釉盌器寥若晨星。迄今僅見七例記載，除一件外餘皆庋藏於重要博物館。考其形制，當分三種尺寸，本品屬最大者。其21公分之恢弘口徑，為目前私人收藏中唯一完整傳世孤例，僅前述出土殘器可資比照。

較小尺寸者包括：倫敦大英博物館藏尤莫弗普勒斯舊藏一例（16.5公分，館藏編號1936,1012.107）；大阪市立東洋陶瓷美術館安宅舊藏一例（16.5公分），刊載於《世界陶瓷全集》，卷13，東京，1981年，彩版235-236；台北故宮博物院藏兩例（9.5及10公分，編號故瓷13216、13217）；倫敦維多利亞與阿爾伯特博物館藏一例（9.8公分，編號C.138-1963）；克利夫蘭藝術博物館藏（10公分，編號1964.222），經 V.W. Shriro 及 Millikin 伉儷遞藏；另一盌（同10公分，同屬 V.W. Shriro 收藏）釋出倫敦蘇富比1963年5月28日，編號124。

同類紋飾亦見於盤、高足盃等器形，並有其他單色釉及雙色釉變體，可參閱2020年10月9日售於香港蘇富比之明洪武外醬釉內藍釉暗花雲龍紋盌，編號46，其尺寸與本品相若。