A rare wucai 'Zhong Kui' dish, Mark and period of Wanli | 明萬曆　五彩鍾馗捉妖圖盤　《大明萬曆年製》

The Fame of Flame: Imperial Wares of the Jiajing and Wanli Periods, University Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2009, cat. no. 119.

Very few Wanli dishes depicting Zhong Kui appear to have been published. A much smaller example (12.5 cm) painted with Zhong Kui wielding a sceptre, surrounded by detached floral sprigs on the cavetto, was included in the Min Chiu Society exhibition, An Anthology of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1980, cat. no. 104, later sold in these rooms, 14th November 1989, lot 50.

Wanli wares of this theme more commonly depict the Daoist Celestial Master Zhang Tianshi, typically shown wielding a sword or riding a mythical beast, and dishes bearing such designs often feature decorative scrolls around the central medallion. See, for instance, a saucer in the Beijing Palace Museum, acc. no.: xin-136884; a dish in the National Museum of China, illustrated in Studies of the Collections of the National Museum of China: Porcelain, Ming Dynasty, Shanghai, 2007, no. 101. Unlike related examples, the cavetto of the present dish has been deliberately left undecorated, perhaps to emphasise the purity of the porcelain body.

The present dish stands out for the refinement of its painting, particularly in the depiction of the Five Poisons on the underside, which are rendered with remarkable detail. The Five Poisons theme relates to ancient customs of the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu), celebrated on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Traditionally seen as a time when heat and humidity bred illness and harmful creatures, people used protective symbols to drive away evil and disease. Images of snakes, scorpions, toads, centipedes, and geckos were displayed as talismans, along with herbs such as mugwort and calamus. Porcelains decorated with these motifs were made for the court and likely used around the festival, their imagery evoking protection and good health.

The exceptionally fine quality of this dish contrasts with the more variable workmanship seen among wares of the same period, a disparity likely linked to the imperial kilns’ practice of subcontracting orders to private kilns, where differences in skill and supervision produced uneven results.

展覽

《爐火純青：嘉靖及萬曆官窯瓷器》，香港大學美術博物館，香港，2009年，編號119

本盤通體以青花五彩繪鍾馗驅毒圖。鍾馗手執笏板，髭髯怒張，身著長袍，前有小鬼回首引路，手持寶傘隨侍鍾馗。外壁飾山石花卉，間以蠍子、蜈蚣、蟾蜍、壁虎，五毒描繪尤為精細傳神，形貌畢現。

此盤為景德鎮御窰為端午節所製之御用瓷，紋飾寓意驅毒辟邪、祈納安康。端午節為每年農曆五月初五，又稱「五月節」、「艾節」、「夏節」等。時值炎熱潮濕，蛇蠍、蟾蜍、蜈蚣、壁虎等五毒出沒，疫癘易生，故古人又五月為「惡月」、五月五日為「惡日」，有懸艾草、佩香囊、飲雄黃、驅五毒之俗，此器正寓此端。

本盤撇口，淺弧壁，圈足，造型端正。內壁素白無紋，與同類常飾花卉者異，或特意留白，更顯瓷胎之潔白細潤。

萬曆瓷上之五毒題材，多見張天師斬五毒，繪鍾馗者傳世甚罕。除本品外，尚見一小盤例（12.5公分），盤壁飾折枝小花，曾展覽於《中國陶瓷雅集》，敏求精舍，香港藝術館，香港，1980年，編號104，後售於香港蘇富比1989年11月14日，編號50。另可參考北京故宮博物院藏繪張天師例（館藏編號：新136884），及中國國家博物館藏一例，著錄於《中國國家博物館館藏文物研究叢書．瓷器卷明代》，上海，2007年，編號101，均可資比照。

嘉萬以降，欽限製器浩繁，遂時有民窰代燒，形成官搭民燒之制。工期促迫，匠藝參差，雖遵同一粉本，畫風神采往往各異，故嘉靖、萬曆御器難見紋飾畫風完全一致之作。相較諸器，本盤構圖布局井然，設色妍麗，五毒筆致精謹傳神，誠屬同類中之上乘佳作。