Lot 168 明嘉靖 五彩魚藻紋罐 《大明嘉靖年製》款

明嘉靖 五彩魚藻紋罐 《大明嘉靖年製》款

USD 50,000

50,000 - 70,000 USD

未知

破損經修，口沿及圈足見銅胎掐絲琺琅包鑲。整體見正常表面及釉面磨損。

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An exceptionally rare wucai 'fish' jar, Mark and period of Jiajing
the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue
Diameter 15½ in., 39.5 cm
来源：Henry James (1843-1916) 收藏
Charles A. Dana (1819-1897) 收藏
哈佛藝術博物館，劍橋
紐約佳士得2009年3月19日，編號721
图录
说明：Exceptionally rare, large wucai jars painted with carp swimming among aquatic plants, such as the present lot, rank among the most ambitious porcelains produced during the Jiajing reign (1522–1566). While fish-and-lotus designs were known in underglaze blue, monumental vessels decorated in the wucai palette survive in remarkably small numbers. Their production presented considerable technical challenges, requiring multiple firings and the successful application of underglaze blue alongside brilliant overglaze enamels. Particularly distinctive is the golden-orange of the carp, achieved by applying iron-red pigment over a previously fired yellow enamel, together with the newly introduced black enamel used to articulate the fishes’ eyes, scales and remarkably observed lateral lines. The combination of monumental scale, technical complexity and unusually naturalistic painting places these jars among the most extraordinary achievements of the Jiajing imperial kilns.
The decorative motif was particularly resonant at the Jiajing court, where Daoist beliefs increasingly permeated imperial artistic production from the 1540s onwards. Rather than employing conventional symbols of longevity, the present design evokes Daoist ideals through a continuous aquatic landscape of carp moving freely among lotus and other water plants. The imagery recalls the celebrated passage in the Zhuangzi concerning the 'pleasures of fishes', in which their effortless movement through water becomes an expression of freedom and harmony with nature. Monumental in scale and unprecedented in the sophistication of its polychrome decoration, this remarkable group stands at the very pinnacle of Jiajing imperial porcelain production, with only a very small number of examples known to have survived.
Jars of this type are preserved in a select number of major museum collections worldwide, including one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelains in Polychrome and Contrasting Colors, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 16, no. 15; one, excavated in Beijing and now in the Chinese History Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan, Taipei, 1993, p. 395, no. 772; another in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Liu Liang-yu, Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 4: Ming Official Wares, Taipei, 1991, p. 212; one in the Tianjin Museum, illustrated in Porcelain from the Tianjin Municipal Museum, Hong Kong, 1993, p. 198, pl. 116; and another in the Fukuoka Art Museum, Fukuoka. Others are illustrated in R. L. Hobson, The Wares of the Ming Dynasty, London, 1923, pl. 26, fig. 1, from the collection of the Comtesse de Beauchamp; one with a 20th century replacement cover made by a renowned Japanese potter was included in the exhibition Two Rare Chinese Porcelain Fish Jars of the 14th and 16th Centuries, Eskenazi, London, 2002, no. 2; and one was sold in our London rooms, 13th June 1989, lot 238 and again 7th December 1993, lot 235. An example formerly in the Collection of the Idemtisu Museum in Tokyo, sold in these rooms, 20th March 1976, lot 130 and was sold again in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2013, lot 3007. Most recently, a pair with its covers sold in our London rooms, 6th November 2024, lot 32, realizing a total of £9.6 million.
The present jar passed through the collections of two prominent figures of 19th-century America: the acclaimed author Henry James (1843–1916) and the distinguished journalist, statesman and art collector Charles A. Dana (1819–1897). One of the most influential writers of his generation, James maintained a lifelong interest in the visual arts and moved within leading artistic circles, notably championing the work of his friend John Singer Sargent. Dana was an equally significant figure in American cultural and public life, serving as Assistant Secretary of War under President Abraham Lincoln before becoming editor and part-owner of The Sun in New York. Another wucai fish jar, formerly in the same in collections of both Henry James and later the Harvard Art Museum was sold at Christie’s New York, 19th March 2009, lot 719.