An heirloom Longquan celadon makara-handled 'kinuta' mallet vase, Southern Song dynasty | 南宋　龍泉青釉魚龍耳紙槌瓶

Collection of Konishi Shinemon XII (1875-1947), by repute, according to the box inscription.

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. 99 (unillustrated).

Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Masterpieces of the Okada Museum of Art, vol. 2, Tokyo, 2018, no. 8.

This vase is an exemplary piece of the highly prized 'kinuta'-type mallet-shaped bottles, esteemed by Japanese connoisseurs as among the most desirable Longquan wares. While resembling paper mallets, scholars postulate that the form may trace its origins to Islamic glass vessels, likely from Iran. See an Islamic glass bottle probably from Nishapur in northeastern Iran was excavated from the Liao-dynasty Tomb of Princess Chen (dated no later than 1018), illustrated in Taipei Palace Museum, Grand View: Special Exhibition of Ju Ware from the Northern Song Dynasty, Taipei, 2007, cat. no. 25, fig. 2. See also shards of similar glassware recovered from the Northern Song-dynasty Intan shipwreck off the Indonesian coast in 1997. The Yi Jian Zhi by Song scholar Hong Mai (1123 - 1202) records Emperor Huizong (1082 - 1135)'s collection of imported glassware, further discussion see Inception of the Second Millennium: Art and Culture of the Song Dynasty, 960-1279, Taipei, 2000, p. 121.

Kinuta vases with makara ('fish-dragon') handles are exceptionally rare, particularly in this imposing size with such serene and lustrous glaze. The makara, regarded as an auspicious motif since the Tang dynasty, likely travelled along nomadic routes from the ancient Near East through Central Asia to China, frequently appearing on metalwork such as a Tang-dynasty gilt-silver dish with makara-and-pearl design in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Museum, see Zhongguo wenhu jinghua daquan: jinyin yushi juan [The Compendium of Chinese Cultural Relics: Gold, Silver, Jade and Stone], Shanghai, 1994, cat. no. 79.

Compare a related 'twin fish'-handled vase, Southern Song, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, though with less delicate celadon glaze, illustrated in Longquan of the World: Longquan Celadon and Globalization, vol. 1, Beijing, 2019, cat. no. 19. The Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, houses a similar smaller example, illustrated in Heavenly Blue: Southern Song Celadon, Nezu Museum, Tokyo, 2010, cat. no. 23, alongside two others (cat. nos 24-25), one now in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, later exhibited in Longquan Ware: Chinese Celadon Beloved by the Japanese, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum and Hagi Museum, 2012, cat. no. 22. Compare another related vase in the Enid and Brodie Lodge Collection, exhibited and illustrated in Mostra d'Arte Cinese, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 422, later sold in our London rooms, 8th July 1975, lot 91. See also an example excavated from a Southern Song dynasty tomb at Songyang county in 1983, illustrated in Zhu Boqian, ed., Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 149, no. 116, and another similar example in the Freer Sackler Galleries, Washington D.C., illustrated in The Freer Gallery of Art, I: China, Washington, D.C., 1972, pl. 89. Two smaller makara-handled vases from the Sinan shipwreck, now in the National Museum of Korea, Seoul, are illustrated in Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off Sinan Coast, Seoul, 1977, col. pl. 3.

The present vase was likely passed down through the Konishi family, brewers from Itami in Settsu Province, and may once have belonged to Konishi Shinemon XII (1875-1947), who is celebrated as a tea master under the name Doekken.

來源

傳十二代小西新右衛門（1875-1947年）收藏，據桐箱題識

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99（沒載圖）

出版

小林忠編，《岡田美術館名品撰》，卷2，東京，2018年，編號8

瓶盤口，直徑，兩側黏燒摩羯魚耳一對，斜肩，直壁向下斜收於圈足，平底內收露出胎骨，通施粉青釉，釉色純淨厚潤。

此類日本鑒賞家稱為「砧青瓷」的紙槌瓶，堪稱龍泉窰中最受追捧的器形。雖形似紙槌，然多位學者考其淵源或來自伊斯蘭世界（可能為伊朗）的琉璃器。遼代陳國公主墓（不晚於1018年）即出土一件東北伊朗尼沙布爾產伊斯蘭玻璃瓶，見《大觀：北宋汝窯特展》，台北，2007年，編號25，圖2；1997年印尼海域打撈的北宋印坦沉船亦出土同類琉璃器殘片。據宋人洪邁《夷堅志》載，徽宗曾收藏進口琉璃器，詳參《千禧年宋代文物大展》，台北，2000年，頁121。摩羯魚耳砧青瓶本就稀見，釉色如此沉靜純美者更屬鳳毛麟角。摩羯魚，又稱為魚龍，作為祥瑞紋飾，在唐代已經流行，其形象或沿遊牧路線自古近東經中亞傳入中國，多見於金銀器，如內蒙古自治區博物館藏一件唐代鎏金魚龍戲珠紋銀盤，見《中國文物精華大全·金銀玉石卷》，上海，1994年，編號79。

北京故宮藏一件南宋雙魚耳瓶可資參考，惟釉色不如本件粉潤，見《天下龍泉：龍泉青瓷與全球化》，卷1， 北京，2019年，編號19。名古屋德川美術館藏一例與本品極似而尺寸較小，見根津美術館，《南宋の青磁》，東京，2010年，編號23；同展另列兩件同類器（編號24、25）亦資參考，其一現藏東京靜嘉堂文庫美術館，後巡展於日本並再刊於《龍泉窯青磁展：日本人の愛した中国陶磁》，愛知縣陶磁資料館，山口縣立萩美術館，2012年，編號22。洛奇夫婦舊藏一例曾展覽並著錄於《Mostra d'Arte Cinese/Exhibition of Chinese Art》，威尼斯總督宮，1954年，編號422，後於1975年7月8日在倫敦蘇富比釋出，拍品91號。1983年松陽縣南宋墓出土雙魚耳瓶一例，見朱伯謙《龍泉窯青瓷》，台北，1998年，頁149，編號116。華盛頓弗利爾美術館藏一例亦資參考，見《弗利爾美術館藏中國藝術》，卷1，華盛頓，1972年，圖版89。另可比較韓國新安沈船出水的兩件稍小摩羯柄瓶，現藏首爾國立中央博物館，載於《新安海底文化財特別展》，1977年，彩版3。

此瓶桐箱題識「小西新右衛門」，應為攝津伊丹釀酒世家小西家之傳世器，或為十二代新右衛門（1875-1947年）舊藏，彼以茶人著稱，號道易軒。