Lot 57 A Chinese famille verte 'Three Star Gods' albarello

A Chinese famille verte 'Three Star Gods' albarello

Kangxi

未知

€ 10.000 – € 20.000

OH: H. 19,4 cm, Diam. 10,6 cm

未知

A cylindrical medicine jar (albarello) with ribbed shoulders and lower body, rising to a short, waisted neck and a wide, flaring mouth, enamelled in the famille verte palette. The exterior is decorated with a continuous scene depicting the Three Star Gods (Sanxing). Luxing looks on as Shouxing presents a peach of longevity to a young boy held by Fuxing, while another child hides behind him holding a lotus flower. Also included in the scene are a deer gazing towards a flying crane, both reinforcing the auspicious themes of longevity and immortality. The lower section is decorated with a stylised hatched triangular border, while the neck is encircled by a 'cracked ice' ground reserved with prunus blossoms.
Although the decoration is entirely Chinese in conception, the vessel's form is not. The albarello first developed in the Islamic world as a cylindrical pharmacy jar before being adopted by European apothecaries during the late medieval period. It was most likely through European trade that this distinctive form reached Jingdezhen, where Chinese potters adapted it during the seventeenth century for the export market. They combined the Western-derived shape with traditional Chinese decorative schemes and auspicious imagery, creating objects that appealed to foreign patrons while retaining a distinctly Chinese visual identity.
This medicine jar is therefore an eloquent example of the cross-cultural exchanges that characterised Chinese export porcelain. While its form ultimately derives from the Islamic world and was probably introduced to China through Europe, its decoration remains unmistakably Chinese.
一件五彩三星圖藥罐，器呈圓筒形，肩部及下腹起弦紋，上承短束頸及寬撇口。外壁以五彩通景繪福祿壽三星圖，祿星在旁觀看，壽星手捧壽桃，正欲贈予福星懷中的童子，另一童子藏於福星身後，手持蓮花。畫面另繪仙鹿仰望飛鶴，進一步強化長壽與成仙的吉祥寓意。下腹環飾由斜線填繪的變形三角紋，頸部以冰裂紋為地，間飾梅花。
此器紋飾雖完全取自中國傳統題材，其造型卻源於域外。此類藥罐又稱「阿爾巴雷洛」（albarello），最早形成於伊斯蘭世界，原為圓筒形藥物容器，中世紀晚期傳入歐洲後廣泛用於藥房。這一特殊器形很可能隨歐洲貿易傳入景德鎮，十七世紀中國工匠將其改製為外銷瓷，並配以傳統中國紋飾及吉祥題材，使西方器形與中國審美融為一體。
此罐因而是中國外銷瓷跨文化交流的典型例證，器形雖遠溯伊斯蘭世界，並可能經由歐洲傳入中國，其裝飾與寓意則保留了鮮明的中國文化特色。
Provenance:
Christie's London, 8 June 2004, lot 346. (sold GBP 9.560,00) (link)
Luis Alegria, Porto, with their label to the base.
The Mr. and Mrs. Baert-Devos Collection, Belgium, acquired from the above on 9 March 2006 during TEFAF Maastricht, accompanied by a scan of their original invoice. (see added scan)
Exhibited:
TEFAF Maastricht, Luis Alegria, 2006.