An important and very rare early Ming underglaze-blue pear-shaped bottle vase, yuhuchunping. Yongle period (1403-1425). Image 2009 Christie's Ltd

The rounded body finely painted with bold strokes to depict a continuous scroll of four large lotus blooms borne on an undulating vine growing leaves to the sides, above cresting waves around the base, below borders enclosing detached sprigs of peony, rose, lotus and camellia, overlapping stiff plantain leaves and leafy meander on the waisted neck below the everted rim, each band bordered by thin double lines, the cobalt of deep purplish-blue tone with saturated 'heaped and piled' spots of intense colour, 11 in. (28 cm.) high, boxes. Est. HK$8,000,000 - HK$12,000,000 ($1,037,002 - $1,555,502) - Price Realized HK$11,860,000 ($1,537,615)

明永樂 青花纏枝蓮紋玉壺春瓶
蘇玫瑰 - 國際亞洲藝術部學術總監

形態優雅的明永樂玉壺春瓶是承元朝之遺風演變出來的傑作，洪武年間在器形上稍作改變，至永樂已創出了本朝經典的造型。永樂的紋飾疏朗秀麗、筆意自然。

傳世品中永樂玉壺春瓶不為多見，比執壺更珍罕。臺北故宮博物院藏一件與本器相同的玉壺春瓶，見1963年香港出版《故宮藏瓷‧明青花瓷一》44-45頁。（圖一）。

此兩件精美的玉壺春瓶有三個共同的特點：

其一，腹下近足處繪波浪紋，有別於一般的蓮瓣紋。

其二，器頸中層繪一周蕉葉紋，上飾卷草紋。這是很少見的裝飾手法，一般蕉葉紋都飾口沿下，見故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集《青花釉裏紅‧上》圖版33，卷草紋在蕉葉紋之下。另有兩件永樂玉壺春瓶器頸中層繪蕉葉紋，下飾靈芝紋，器腹飾野菊和蝴蝶，上有如意紋和牡丹紋。它們分別藏臺北故國立宮博物院和英國大衛德基金會。有趣的是，有兩件永樂玉壺春瓶在器頸中層繪花葉紋和蓮瓣紋。一件藏伊朗阿爾德比爾神廟；另一件來自Oppenheimer 收藏，現藏大英博物館。此兩件永樂玉壺春瓶上的花葉紋和蓮瓣紋不算蕉葉紋，花葉較短，畫意較簡單；花葉紋上均飾纏蓮紋，非如本拍品和臺北故宮所藏的一樣飾卷草紋。

其三，本拍品和臺北故宮所藏的永樂玉壺春瓶器肩飾對稱折枝花紋，與其它所見的永樂玉壺春瓶有所不同。雖然折枝花果紋多見於永樂的青花瓷器上，但未見於玉壺春瓶上。上海博物館藏一件飾折枝花果紋的永樂玉壺春瓶，其口沿下同樣飾有與本拍品和臺北故宮所藏的永樂玉壺春瓶一樣的卷草紋。

臺北國立故宮院另有一件永樂玉壺春瓶，見劉良佑著1991年臺北出版《中國歷代陶瓷鑑賞‧4‧明官窰》55頁左面圖版，與伊朗阿爾德比爾神廟藏的一件一樣腹下近足處繪蓮瓣文一周，腹部繪豐滿得纏枝花卉紋，肩飾卷草紋，肩上層飾回紋，口沿下飾如意雲頭紋。

景德鎮御窰廠遺址出土了兩件青花玉壺春瓶，見鴻禧美術館出版《景德鎮出土明初官窯瓷器》圖版60、61。如本拍品和臺北故宮所藏的永樂玉壺春瓶，腹部繪纏枝花卉紋為主紋飾，一繪蓮紋，一繪秋葵紋。其中繪纏枝蓮紋的比本拍品稍小，但花卉的畫法甚為相似。而繪秋葵紋的玉壺春瓶器頸中層的蕉葉紋比較短小。

本拍品和臺北故宮所藏的永樂玉壺春瓶可算是在同期燒製的玉壺春瓶中之上乘作品。其釉色明亮艷麗，筆意自然流暢，翻卷的枝葉優雅而充滿動感，肩上的折枝花卉紋和留白處恰如其分。為難得的精品。


明永樂 青花纏枝蓮紋玉壺春瓶

瓶撇口，細頸，垂腹，圈足。通體繪五組青花紋飾，以雙線相隔。頸飾卷草紋和蕉葉紋；肩飾折枝牡丹、月季、山茶和蓮花；腹繪四朵纏枝蓮花，枝葉相纏；近足處繪浪濤紋。

此器造型秀麗俊俏，發色鮮明，釉色瑩潤。永樂青花有「諸料悉精，青花最貴」之說法，在紋飾和造型上都出現了新的風格，逐漸擺脫了元朝的遺風。青料採用進口的「蘇麻離青」，發色清翠濃艷，背花紋飾泛出點點銀黑色結晶斑，與前朝所用之國產青料形成了強烈的對比。此器與明洪武青花纏枝牡丹紋玉壺春瓶為明早期兩朝青花瓷器的典型，傳世品中只有一件相同的例子現藏臺北國立故宮博物院，甚具收藏價值。

此器為著名收藏家仇焱之舊藏，並著錄於1950年香港出版，仇焱之主編之《抗希齋珍藏有明全代景德名瓷影譜‧下》，1995年亮相於香港佳士得拍賣。

An important and rare blue and white yuhuchunping

Rosemary Scott, International Academic Driector, Asian Art

The elegant form of this Yongle pear-shaped vase is one that came to prominence in the Yuan dynasty, underwent some proportional changes in the first Ming dynasty reign of the Hongwu emperor, and then in the Yongle reign developed its classic shape. In addition to subtle alterations in form, the Yongle yuhuchunping also benefited from a greater range of decorative motifs, a reduction in the number of decorative bands, and a greater flexibility as to the width of those bands and their relationship to each other.

While relatively few Yongle pear-shaped vases have survived - apparently fewer than pear-shaped ewers - an identical vase to the current example is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum, Blue-and-white Ware of the Ming Dynasty - Book I, Hong Kong, 1963, pp. 44-5, pls. 2 and 2a-b) [Fig. 1]. Three features on these two vases are particularly distinctive. Firstly, around the base of the body is a vividly painted band of turbulent waves, rather than the lotus petal band seen on most other examples. Secondly, they have a band of plantain leaves around the middle of the neck, above which is a band of knobbed classic scrolls. This is unusual, since plantain leaves are generally placed just below the rim, as on the pear-shaped vase decorated in its major band with plants and rocks, from the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red (I), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 35, no. 33), on which the position of the plantain leaves and the knobbed classic scroll are reversed, with the latter appearing below the plantain leaves.

Nevertheless, two more Yongle pear-shaped vases have the feature of a band of plantain leaves around the middle of the neck, in their case below a band of lingzhi fungus. These vases from the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated in Catalogue of A Special Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, Taipei, 1982, p. 47, no. 14) and the collection of the Percival David Foundation (illustrated by R. Scott in Elegant Form and Harmonious Decoration - Four Dynasties of Jingdezhen Porcelain, London, 1992, p. 38, no. 25), have daylilies and butterflies in their major decorative band, above which is a band of small ruyi, above which is a peony scroll.

Interestingly, two further Yongle yuhuchunping have leaf or elongated petal bands in the middle of the neck. These are a vase in the collection of the Ardebil Shrine in Iran (illustrated by John Pope in Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, London, reprinted 1981 edition, pl. 53, no. 29.447), and a vase from the Oppenheimer collection, now in the British Museum, London (illustrated by J. Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, p. 107, no. 3:17). The leaf/petal bands on the Ardebil and British Museum vases are not strictly plantain leaves, but are shorter and much simplified by comparison. On these two vases the band above the plantain is filled by a lotus scroll, rather than the knobbed classic scroll on the current vase and its companion in the National Palace Museum. The third distinctive feature of the two latter vases is that they have well-proportioned single flower sprays in the extended band on their shoulders, in contrast to the various scrolls seen on the majority of other Yongle vases of this form. Although single flower sprays and fruiting sprays were among the most attractive of the decorative devices of Yongle blue and white porcelain, they are rare on pear-shaped vases. However both single flower sprays and fruiting sprays can be seen on a Yongle pear-shaped vase in the Shanghai Museum (illustrated by Wang Qing-zheng in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1987, p. 63, no. 49). Interestingly the Shanghai vase shares with the current vase, and the similar example in the National Palace Museum, a knobbed classic scroll under the rim.

A second Yongle pear-shaped vase in the National Palace Museum (illustrated by Liu Liang-yu in A Survey of Chinese Ceramics 4 Ming Official Wares, Taipei, 1991, p. 55, left-hand image) is identical to a further vase from the Ardebil Shrine in Iran (illustrated by John Pope in Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, op. cit., pl. 53, no. 29.448). These two vases have a petal band around the base of the body, a large-scale mixed floral scroll as the main band, a large, heavily drawn, knobbed scroll on the shoulder, above which is a band of squared spirals, topped by an inverted cloud collar band.

Two blue and white pear-shaped vases excavated from the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen have been published by the Chang Foundation in Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1996, pp. 182-5, nos. 60 and 61. Like the current vase, and the similar vase in the National Palace Museum, the two excavated vases have floral scrolls as their major decorative band. One has a band of scrolling hibiscus (no. 61) while the other has a band of scrolling lotus (no. 60). The scrolling lotuses on the excavated vase are smaller than those on the current vase, but the flower heads have been similarly painted. Interestingly, the vase with hibiscus has a much-reduced plantain band in the middle of the neck, below a narrow floral scroll.
It may be argued that the decorative scheme of the current vase, and the one in the National Palace Museum, is the most elegant of the schemes seen on Yongle yuhuchunping. The richly painted blossoms of the lotus scrolls are complemented by the delicate and widely-spaced leafy stems, while the single floral sprays on the shoulder allow a perfect amount of the fine white body to be seen. This elegant scheme is perfectly matched by the brilliance of the cobalt blue used on this vase, which is of the highest quality, and the painting of all the bands, which is accomplished with consummate skill.

Provenance: Edward T. Chow
Previously sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 May 1995, lot 642

Literature: H. Ling and E. T. Chow, The Complete Collection of Ming Dynasty Kingtehchen Porcelain from The Hall of Disciplined Learning - Collection of E. T. Chow, vol. II, 1950, no. 16

Exhibited: Chang Foundation, Taipei, Chinese Art from the Ching Wan Society Collections, 1998, illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 9

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 1 December 2009. Hong Kong www.christies.com