An extremely rare sacrificial-red glazed bowl. Xuande incised six-character mark and of the period

30 mai 2010

An extremely rare sacrificial-red glazed bowl. Xuande incised six-character mark and of the period

An extremely rare sacrificial-red glazed bowl. Xuande incised six-character mark and of the period. photo Bonhams

Of inverted bell-shape, the deep flared bowl supported on a straight foot, the rounded sides rising steeply to a flared rim, covered all over in a rich and lustrous mottled red glaze, skilfully brushed with white glaze at the rim, foot and base creating a distinct contrast. 15.2cm (6in) diam. Estimate: HK$500,000 - 700,000, USD 64,000 - 90,000 Unsold.

Illustrated: Kaikodo Journal, New York, Spring 2001, no.84

明宣德祭紅釉碗六字楷書刻款

出版：《懷古堂》，紐約，2001年春，編號84

No intact sacrificial-red glazed bowl of this rare Islamic-derived form with a Xuande reign mark appears to be recorded in any public or private collection. However, an excavated example, identical in form, was exhibited by the Urban Council, Hong Kong and the Jingdezhen Museum of Ceramic History, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Catalogue, 1989, no. 73.

For two other monochrome examples in white and blue preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, differing from the current example in that the kaishu reign marks are not incised, but inscribed in underglaze-blue, see Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pl. 57 and pl. 58.

The only Xuande reign-marked bowl of this form that appears to have been offered at auction is a yellow-glazed bowl, with similar incised mark as on the current example, sold Christie's Hong Kong, 25 October 1993, lot 732, and illustrated in Christie's 20 Years in Hong Kong, 2006, pg.105. It is now in the Meiyintang Collection, and is illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Volume Four, London, 2010, pl.1665.

碗侈口，鼓腹，矮圈足。口沿一圈現白，碗外通體施祭紅釉，有結晶斑，內足施白釉，附「大明宣德年製」楷書刻款。不管在私人或公共的收藏圖錄中，也沒有記錄完整無缺的宣德款祭紅釉碗。只有一件出土的相同例子，並在香港市政局及景德鎮陶瓷歷史博物館策劃下展出，見《景德鎮珠山出土永樂宣德官窰瓷器展覽》，1989，編號73。

另外兩件現藏於台北國立故宮博物院的白釉和藍釉例子，可參考《明代宣德官窯菁華特展圖錄》，台北，1998，圖版57及58。兩者與本碗的楷書款印有所不同，是以青花繪畫而成的。

在拍賣場上，只有一件黃釉碗與本碗一樣，刻有宣德六字楷書款，並於1993年10月25日在香港佳士得成交，拍品編號732，可參見《香港佳士德廿週年：中國瓷器及工藝品精選》，香港，2006，頁105。此碗現為玟茵堂珍藏，見康蕊君著，《中國陶瓷》，第四冊，倫敦，2010，圖版1665。