A fine and rare blue and white 'grape' charger, Ming dynasty, Yongle period | 明永樂　青花葡萄紋折沿盤

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. 67 (unillustrated).

Dishes painted with this motif, always featuring three clusters of grapes issuing from a single stem, vary in few but distinct ways: the sides are either rounded or lobed and the rims are straight or barbed  (see Lot 1029 in this sale). Among surviving examples, the present piece is particularly outstanding for its fine potting, smooth, tactile glaze and lush fruit pattern that beautifully displays the characteristic ‘heaping and piling’ of the cobalt blue – a much-copied trademark of imperial blue and white porcelains from the early Ming dynasty.

Dishes of this design made for the court include one from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated in Geng Baochang ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang. Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming blue and white porcelain in the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2002, vol. II, pl. 135, together with a dish of this design with a barbed rim, pl. 133; one in the Shanghai Museum, published in Lu Minghua, Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 1-16; and a third, reputedly given by the Empress Dowager Cixi to Sir Robert Hart, Inspector General of the Imperial Maritime Customs at the Chinese Treaty Ports, on his retirement in 1908.

After an interruption in the Hongwu reign, the Yongle Emperor re-established relations with the Timurid ruler Shahrukh Mirza (r. 1405-1447), which led to frequent mutual exchanges of luxury goods between the two empires, including blue and white porcelains. Dishes of this design formerly in the Ardebil Shrine and now in the National Museum of Iran, Tehran, are illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington D.C., 1956, pls 37-39, and in Misugi Takatoshi, Chinese Porcelain Collections in the Near East. Topkapi and Ardebil, Hong Kong, 1981, vol. III, pls A 40-42. Dishes of this design are also found in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, London, 1986, vol. II, pls 605 and 606; a dish inscribed with the name of the Mughal Shah Jahan ibn Jahangir Shah (AD 1593-1666) and a date equivalent to AD 1643-1644, from the Avery Brundage collection, in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Selected Works, San Francisco, 1994, p. 106, and sold in our London rooms, 24th March 1964, lot 96.

Further dishes of this pattern include a dish from the Swedish Royal Collections, now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 213; two from the collection of Sir Percival David, the first, now in the British Museum, London, published in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 6, pl. 74, and the second, sold in our London rooms, 8th July 1974, lot 190; and another dish, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, vol. 4, 2010, pl. 1638, and sold in these rooms, 4th April 2012, lot 21, from the Meiyintang collection. One from Sir Quo-Wei Lee collection, sold Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 2^nd October 2018, lot 110.

來源

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67（沒載圖）

葡萄盤系永樂時期經典之作，盤心繪藤生三串葡萄，豐美欲滴，盤壁或直或作瓜稜式，口沿或取直口或為菱口 （見本場拍品編號1029）。此盤瓷胎端正，釉色潤澤，青花紋飾雅致，尤為難得。

清宮舊藏一件同紋折沿盤，現藏北京故宮，刊於耿寶昌編，《故宮博物館藏明初青花瓷》，北京，2002年，卷2，圖版135，同錄一件菱花口盤，圖版133。上海博物館藏一例，載於陸明華，《明代官窰瓷器》，上海，2007年，圖版1-16；1908年，慈禧太后賞賜一盤予中國海關總稅務司長羅伯特．赫德爵士，1966年12月13日售於倫敦蘇富比，編號79。

永樂帝登基後，重拾洪武時期一度中斷與帖木兒帝國沙哈魯皇朝之頻繁交流，其中青花瓷常作為珍貴賞賜。類同紋飾瓷盤，曾供奉於阿德比爾聖殿，現藏德黑蘭伊朗國家博物館，刊於 John Alexander Pope，《Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine》，華盛頓，1956年，圖版37-9，及三杉隆敏，《中近東の中国磁器》，香港，1981年，卷3，圖版A40-42。伊斯坦堡托普卡比宮殿博物館亦藏同類青花盤，載於康蕊君，《Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul》，倫敦，1986年，卷2，圖版605、606。還有一盤，銘有印度莫臥兒皇帝沙賈漢（1593-1666年），紀年1643-4年，曾為布倫戴奇舊藏，現存三藩市亞洲藝術博物館，錄於《The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. Selected Works》，三藩市，1994年，頁106，1964年3月24日售於倫敦蘇富比，編號96。

參考瑞典皇室收藏一件相似紋飾青花盤，現藏斯德哥爾摩東亞博物館，載於《Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections》，卷8，東京，1982年，圖版213，倫敦大維德基金會有二盤，其一現存倫敦大英博物館，錄於，同上，卷6，圖版74，另一盤於1974年7月8日售於倫敦蘇富比，編號190。玫茵堂珍藏一例，刊於康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，倫敦，卷4，2010年，圖版1638，2012年4月4日售於香港蘇富比，編號21。一例源自利國偉爵士舊藏，售於香港蘇富比2018年10月2日，編號110。