A fine and magnificent blue and white 'magpie and prunus' moon flask, Seal mark and period of Yongzheng | 清雍正　青花喜上枝頭海棠式抱月瓶　《大清雍正年製》款

A Japanese private collection.

Kochukyo Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

5th Anniversary Exhibition. All-Stars of the Okada Collection: Masterworks of Korin, Jakuchu, Hokusai and the Ru Ware Kilns, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2018-19, exh. no. 1 (unillustrated).

Sato Masahiko, Toki Koza [Lecture of Ceramics], vol. 12: China IV. Qing dynasty, Tokyo, 1975, pl. 62.

Sato Masahiko, Chugoku toji shi [Chinese Ceramics: A Short History], Tokyo, 1978, fig. 286.

Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Masterpieces of the Okada Museum of Art, vol. 1, Tokyo, 2013, no. 34.

Flasks of this unusual lobed form are rare and appear to have been an innovation of the Yongzheng reign. The Emperor is celebrated for his refined taste and passion for classic porcelains of the early Ming dynasty, which were often used as models for inspiration. The motif of birds on flowering and fruiting branches was popular in this period and was inspired by after early Ming prototypes, which were in turn painted after the popular bird and flower paintings of the Song dynasty. This attractive scene is confidently painted on the present piece with bold lines and washes of cobalt in a manner appropriate to its large and weighty form.

Another flask of this form sold in our London rooms, 5th July 1977, lot 232, is now in the Matsuoka Museum of Art, Tokyo, illustrated in Schincho Kogei no bi [The beauty of Qing Ceramics ], Tokyo, 1992, pl. 70. Compare also with a second related example sold in these rooms, 3rd October 2017, lot 3621.

See also an unmarked flask of this form and large size, but painted with a flower scroll, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 948; and another sold in our London rooms, 27th November 1973, lot 261.

For the prototype of this design, see a Xuande mark and period dish included in the Special Exhibition. Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, cat. no. 258.

來源

日本私人收藏

壺中居，東京

展覽

《開館5周年記念展―美のスターたち―光琳．若冲．北斎．汝窯など名品勢ぞろい》， 岡田美術館，箱根，2018-19年，展覽編號1（沒載圖）

出版

佐藤雅彦，《陶器講座》，卷12：中國IV．清，東京，1975年，圖版62

佐藤雅彦，《中国陶磁史》，東京，1978年，圖286

小林忠編，《岡田美術館名品撰》，卷1，東京，2013年，編號34

此般海棠式抱月瓶形制殊罕，乃雍正御窰別出心裁之創制。世宗皇帝精鑒博古，尤尚明初遺韻，常以永宣佳器為範，令唐英仿製。本品所繪折枝花果棲禽之景，深得雍正雅好，其紋樣取法明初御器，而明初畫意又承兩宋院體花鳥余緒。筆墨遒勁處足見功力，青花濃淡間盡顯神采，與抱月瓶渾圓飽滿之器型相得益彰，可謂形神兼備。

存世同式者寥若晨星。可資比較這有倫敦蘇富比1977年7月5日售出一件類似者，入藏松岡美術館，著錄於《清朝工芸の美 ー秀麗な清朝陶磁を中心に》，東京，1993年，圖版70。又可比較香港蘇富比售出一件，2017年10月3日，編號3621。另見出光美術館藏一器，形制相若而飾纏枝花卉， 無款，載於《中国陶磁 : 出光美術館蔵品図錄》，東京，1987年，圖版948，及倫敦蘇富比售出一件，1973年11月27日，編號261，皆可資參考。

此紋飾淵源，當溯明宣宗御窰。東京國立博物館展覽一件宣德款識瓷盤或為此式濫觴，見《特別展：中國の陶磁》，東京，1994年，編號258。