An heirloom Longquan celadon 'tobi seiji' handled vase, Yuan dynasty | 元　龍泉窰飛青環耳瓶

Collection of the Toda family.

Shinshu Matsumoto Hanshu Toda Shishaku-ke Zohin Nyusatsu Mokuroku [Auction catalogue of the Viscount Toda Collection], Osaka Art Club, Osaka, 1930, cat. no. 59.

Special Exhibition. Chinese Ceramics: The Most Popular Works Among Japanese, Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, 1991, cat. no. 65.

Daito Choan te. Kyoto no harukana genryu o tazuneru [Special exhibition of Changʾan], Museum of Kyoto, Kyoto, 1994, cat. no. 283.

Koetsukai, Kyoto, 1996.

Matsukado Chakaiki to Cha no Yu no Sekai. Kaikan Kinen Tokubetsuten, Shokado Art Museum, Kyoto, 2002, cat. no. 18.

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. 105 (unillustrated).

Kobayashi Tadashi, ed., Masterpieces of the Okada Museum of Art, vol. 2, Tokyo, 2018, no. 9.

The aesthetic allure of this vase lies in the arresting contrast between the mottled russet speckles and the serene celadon glaze—a dialogue of movement and repose. The term tobi seiji (“flying celadon, feiqing in Chinese”) was coined by Japanese tea connoisseurs, evoking the lively splash of the brown markings across the glaze. Such decoration was meticulously planned: seemingly spontaneous yet guided by careful method. Examination reveals the russet spots were painted on the unfired body with deliberate rhythm—four arranged around the central axis, flanked by symmetrical or staggered pairs, each built up through layered brushstrokes to create remarkable depth. The tranquil, jade-like celadon conveys timeless stillness, while the iron speckles lend dynamic vitality. This union of opposites—the poised and the energetic—defines the enduring poetic tension at the heart of tobi seiji wares, for more discussion of this glaze type and its Japanese terminology, see Kobayashi Hitoshi, “Study on the National Treasure tobi seiji Celadon Flower Vase,” in Longquan Kiln Ceramics Studies, Beijing, 2013, p. 404.

In Japan, such Longquan vases were cherished as hana-ike—vessels for flower arrangement. As interpreted by Kobayashi (ibid., p. 407), the term denotes a vessel “that nourishes the life of flowers,” an idea rooted in Ming China. The notion finds early expression in Cao Zhao’s Gegu Yaolun (1388): “Ancient bronzes, having absorbed the essence of the earth for long years, when used to hold flowers, make their colours vivid and their bloom enduring.” This record reveals that the aesthetic practice of displaying flowers in ancient vessels was already established among Ming collectors.

No other tobi seiji vase of this exact type appears to be recorded. Compare, however, a double-ring-handled vase of early Ming date, without russet speckling, in the Palace Museum, Beijing; see Celadons from Longquan: Longquan Celadon and Globalization, vol. 2, Beijing, 2019, no. 102.

Surviving examples of Longquan tobi seiji celadon are exceedingly rare and span a wide range of forms. See garlic-mouth vases: one in the Ise Cultural Foundation collection, illustrated in Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramics: The Treasures of the Ise Collection, Tokyo, 2012, pp. 54–55, no. 41, and a pair sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2016, lot 3133. Yuhuchun vases: are in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, and in a Japanese private collection designated an Important Cultural Property, both illustrated in Koyama Fujio, Sekai Tōji Zenshū: Sō–Ryō hen, vol. 10, Tokyo, 1956, pls. 17 and 49; another is in the Baur Collection, Geneva, published in John Ayers, Baur Collection: Chinese Ceramics Exhibition, Tokyo, 1994, no. 13; and a further example in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated in William Bowyer Honey, The Ceramic Art of China and Other Countries of the Far East, London, 1945, pl. 36. Fengwei zun vases: one in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated in Rose Kerr, Imperial Taste: Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, San Francisco, 1989, p. 47, no. 22; one in the Ishibashi Museum of Art, Fukuoka, illustrated in Kobayashi, op. cit., p. 410, fig. 19; and another sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 28 November 2018, lot 2953. Double-handled vases: one from a Japanese private collection, ibid., p. 410, fig. 22, and one in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhu Boqian, Longquan Celadon, Taipei, 1998, no. 155. Meiping vases: one in a Japanese private collection, illustrated in Sekai Tōji Zenshū, vol. 13, Tokyo, 1981, pp. 44–45, no. 32; one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Essence of Chinese Cultural Relics: Ceramics, Taipei, 1993, p. 356, no. 626; and another sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2011, lot 3010. See also two dishes and trays in the Palace Museum, Beijing, Celadons from Longquan, nos. 76 and 80, while the Palace Museum, Taipei, holds a tripod flower vase and a ewer, both published in Porcelain of the Palace Museum: Lung-ch’üan Ware, Hong Kong, 1962, p. 54, pl. 14, and p. 66, pl. 21.

來源

戸田子爵家收藏

《信州松本藩主戸田子爵家蔵品入札目録》大阪美術倶樂部，大阪，1930年，編號59

展覽

《特別展覧会—日本人が好んだ中国陶磁》，京都國立博物館，京都，1991年，編號65

《大唐長安展—京都のはるかな源流をたずねる》，京都文化博物館，京都，1994年，編號283

光悅會，京都，1996年

《松花堂茶会記と茶の湯の世界—開館記念特別展》，八幡市立松花堂美術館，京都，2002年，編號18

《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105（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9

壺喇叭口，頸內束，中起弦紋一道，兩側黏燒環耳，腹鼓下垂，下腹亦起弦紋一週，圈足略外撇，通施梅子青釉，釉面點褐斑，即日人所謂「飛青」。 

本品釉色之審美精髓在於沉鬱褐斑與青釉素地形成的強烈視覺反差，飛青瓷之名正是古代日本茶人因其釉面褐斑飛灑之態所創，見小林仁，《國寶飛青瓷花生の研究》，載《龍泉窰瓷器研究》，北京，2013年，頁404。此類褐斑系施釉前以筆繪於坯體，雖看似隨意，實則暗含章法：細審本品褐斑以瓶身正中為軸點染四點，兩側再或對稱，或錯開點染，且多數褐斑由多重筆觸疊染而成，極富層次。青釉本象征自然界的永恒靜美，鐵斑卻賦予動態張力，二者矛盾統一的大膽嘗試，成就了和諧之美。這種將穩定青釉與躍動褐斑熔鑄一體的悖論美學，恰是飛青瓷永恒魅力的本源。

此類龍泉花瓶在日本茶道中作「花生」（花器）使用。據小林仁考釋，「花生」指能滋養花枝的器皿（前揭書，頁407），此概念實源自明代中國。曹昭《格古要論》（1388年）載：「古銅器入土年久受土氣深，以之養花，花色鮮明如枝頭，開速而謝遲，就瓶結實。」可知明代鑒藏家已有以古器蓄花之習。與本品相似之龍泉飛青雙環耳瓶尚未得見，北京故宮藏一例明早期之類似器型，惟無褐斑飛青，見《天下龍泉：龍泉青瓷與全球化》，卷2， 北京，2019年，編號102。

其他器型的飛青瓷存世品包括—蒜頭瓶兩例：伊勢收藏一例飛青蒜頭瓶，刊載於《中國陶磁名品展：伊勢收藏の至寶》，東京，2012年，頁54-55，編號41，香港佳士得2016年11月30日售出一對，編號3133；以及飛青玉壺春瓶五例：大阪市立東洋陶瓷美術館藏一例，及日本私人藏重要文化財一例，分見於小山富士夫編，《世界陶瓷全集·宋遼篇》，卷10，東京，1956年，圖版17及49；日內瓦鮑氏藏一例，見約翰·艾爾斯，《バウアー コレクション 中国陶磁名品展》，東京，1994年，編號13；倫敦維多利亞與阿爾伯特博物館藏一例，見威廉·鮑耶·霍尼，《The Ceramic Art of China and Other Countries of the Far East》（中國及遠東陶瓷藝術），倫敦，1945年，圖版36；鳳尾尊兩例：大維德基金會藏一例，見蘇玫瑰，《Imperial Taste: Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation》（皇家品味：大維德基金會藏中國陶瓷），舊金山，1989年，頁47，編號22；福岡石橋美術館藏一例，見小林仁前書，頁410，圖19；香港佳士得2018年11月28日售出一例，編號2953；雙耳瓶兩例：日本私人藏一例，同小林仁前書，頁410，圖22；上海博物館藏一例，見朱伯謙，《龍泉窰青瓷》，台北，1998年，編號155；梅瓶三例：日本私人藏一例，見三上次男等，《世界陶磁全集》，卷13，東京，1981年，頁44-45，編號32；北京故宮藏一例，見《中國文物精華大全·陶瓷卷》，台北，1993年，頁356，編號626；香港佳士得2011年11月30日售出一件，編號3010；盤碟兩例，俱藏北京故宮，見《天下龍泉》，編號76及80；台北故宮尚藏有飛青瓷三足花插及執壺各一亦資參考，載於《故宮藏瓷·龍泉窰》，香港，1962年，頁54，圖版14及頁66圖版21。