Lot 13 明宣德　掐絲琺瑯纏枝番蓮紋投壺 | A RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL 'LOTUS' 'ARROW' VASE, TOUHU

明宣德　掐絲琺瑯纏枝番蓮紋投壺 | A RARE CLOISONNÉ ENAMEL 'LOTUS' 'ARROW' VASE, TOUHU

Xuande

HKD 500,000

HKD 500000 - 700000

未知

未知

Xuande
The bottle with a compressed globular body supported on a short spraying foot rising to a tall cylindrical neck, the exterior brightly enamelled with two friezes of lotus blooms with petals detailed in red, yellow, green, blue and white, all amidst meandering leafy scrolls against a sky-blue background, the mouth further adorned with lotus blossoms flanked by a pair of tubular handles detailed with chilong on a deep azure ground, the foot with a classic scroll, box.
12.2cm (4 3/4in) high. (2).
Footnotes
明宣德　掐絲琺瑯纏枝番蓮紋投壺
Provenance:
Sotheby's London, 9 June 1992, lot 28
Eskenazi Ltd., London
Christie's Hong Kong, 3 November 1998, lot 1045
Sotheby's New York, 15 September 2015, lot 165
Published and Illustrated:
G.Eskenazi and H.Elias, A Dealer's Hand - The Chinese Art World through the Eyes of Giuseppe Eskenazi, London, 2012, p.243, pl.177
倫敦蘇富比，1992年6月9日，拍品編號28
埃斯卡納齊，倫敦
香港佳士得，1998年11月3日，拍品編號1045
紐約蘇富比，2015年9月15日，拍品編號165
埃斯卡納齊，薛好佩整理，《中國藝術品經眼錄：埃斯卡納齊的回憶》，倫敦，2012年，頁243，圖177
Richly enamelled, the present vase exhibits key elements of early Ming dynasty cloisonné enamel: a substantial bronze body with gilt borders framing the different sections, and lotus scrolls bearing blooms, each with a slightly different colour combination of blue, red, yellow, and white, reserved on a bright sky-blue ground.
Compare with a slightly taller cloisonné enamel 'arrow' vase decorated with lotus scrolls (14.1cm), first half of the 15th century, illustrated by H.Brinker and A.Lutz, , London, 1989, pl.17. See a 'lotus scroll' 'arrow' vase (14.6cm), with a deep azure ground, incised four-character Jingtai mark and of the period, from the Avery Brundage collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (acc.no.B60P1613), which is illustrated by B.Quette, ed., , New York, 2011, pl.13; and another early Ming period example, gifted by David David-Well to the Musée des Arts décoratifs, Paris, illustrated ibid., pl.20. Compare with a much taller 'arrow' vase with composite floral scrolls on a sky-blue ground (19.6cm high), early Ming, from the Qing Court Collection and now in the Palace Museum, Beijing (acc.no.Gu117449), which is illustrated in the , vol.1, Beijing, 2011, no.15; and with a shorter 'arrow' vase detailed with asters and gardenias (11.5cm high), mid-Ming dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection and now in the Palace Museum (acc.no.Gu116128), illustrated in , pl.67. Another rare example of this type, also adorned with lotus scrolls and Xuande period, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26 April 1999, lot 560.
This shape is derived from , or 'arrow' vases, a crucial object in an ancient Chinese drinking game of the same name. A game of tossing arrows into the mouth and tubular handles of the vessel, it originated as early as the Han dynasty and enjoyed popularity among scholars and nobility. The present vase, however, appears to have drawn direct inspiration from a modified Southern Song form. During the Southern Song dynasty, a time of archaistic renaissance, this form of 'arrow' vase enjoyed a revival and was incorporated into the general artistic repertoire. Compare a celadon-glazed vase excavated from the Ren Renfa family tomb (12.8cm high), published in , Beijing, 2008, vol.7, no.231; as well as a vase of similar proportions (11.3cm high), from the Qing Court Collection and now in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in , Hong Kong, 1996, no.37.
壺貫耳，直頸，鼓腹，下承微外撇圈足。口及貫耳施深藍琺瑯釉，其餘施天藍釉地，整體以纏枝番蓮紋為飾。造型古樸而不失精巧，宜上手把玩、細細品賞。
本品釉彩絢麗，具明早期掐絲琺瑯之典型特徵：銅胎厚重，裝飾紋樣以鎏金線條相隔，藍地上所飾之番蓮花朵形態各異，藍、紅、黃、白諸色組合略有不同。
比較一件十五世紀上半葉掐絲琺瑯纏枝蓮紋貫耳瓶，尺寸稍大（高14.1厘米），見 H.Brinker 及 A.Lutz 著，《Chinese Cloisonné: The Pierre Uldry Collection》，倫敦，1989年，圖版17。另見 Avery Brundage 收藏一深藍地例（高14.6厘米），底刻景泰四字款，現藏舊金山亞洲藝術博物館（館藏編號B60P1613），見 B.Quette 編《Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties》，紐約，2011年，圖版13；又一件明早期例，由David David-Well贈予巴黎裝飾藝術博物館，見同書，圖版20。
清宮舊藏有一件較高之明早期掐絲琺瑯纏枝番蓮紋投壺，於天藍地上飾纏枝花紋（高19.6厘米），現藏北京故宮博物院（館藏編號：故117449），見《故宮博物院藏品大系：琺瑯器編》，卷1，北京，2011年，編號15；另見清宮舊藏一件明中期之例（高11.5厘米），飾紫菀及梔子花（館藏編號:故116128），見同書，圖版67。另參考宣德朝一例，亦飾纏枝蓮紋，售於香港佳士得，1999年4月26日，拍品編號560。
此器形源自投壺。投壺乃古代飲宴間之助興遊戲，玩家須將箭矢投入壺口及雙耳之中，早在漢代便盛行於文人雅士與貴族之間。本品則似直接取法南宋改良之形制。南宋為復古之世，此投壺形制復興，並融入其時風格。可比對任仁發家族墓出土一件青釉投壺（高12.8厘米），載於《中國出土瓷器全集》，北京，2008年，卷7，編號231；另見清宮舊藏一件比例相近之哥釉投壺（高11.3厘米），現藏北京故宮博物院，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集：兩宋瓷器（下）》，香港，1996年，編號37。