Regina Krahl

It will be hard to find a porcelain vessel more pleasing in shape or more ravishing in colour than this small covered jar from the imperial Yongle workshops of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province. The smooth, bulging vessel with its softly rounded cover, enveloped in a luminous, glassy, blue-green tinted glaze, has a gem-like quality as encountered only in the Yongle period (1403-1424). With its superbly designed form, its outstanding material and its perfect execution, it is a masterpiece from a golden era of China's porcelain production. No other ‘jadeite green’ jar of this shape, complete with its cover, appears to be recorded; altogether only six pieces including this jar, dressed in this dazzling glaze, appear to be extant; and only two comparable jars have retained their covers, both from the Qing court collects ion and today preserved in the Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei.

The reign of the Yongle Emperor, whose rule commenced in Nanjing and ended in Beijing, was marked by extraordinary innovation in technology, imagination in design, and rigorous pursuit of quality. Specially designated imperial workshops created not only porcelain, but also lacquerware, cloisonné, textiles, Buddhist gilt-bronzes and other works of art, all of unparalleled excellence, thus initiating an unprecedented flowering of China’s arts and crafts. The imperial porcelain workshops at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province increased quantity as well as quality of their production with awesome rapidity, as the excavations of the kilns’ waste heaps have documented. As new glaze colours and firing techniques, new shapes and designs were tried out, the potters' technical leap forward was so immense, that thereafter no real innovation took place for centuries, until the introduction of foreign technology from the West in the eighteenth century supplied new impulses once more.

While many porcelains of the Yongle period were created specifically for diplomatic missions, to be distributed as imperial gifts to foreign potentates, and are characterized by larger sizes and a bolder aesthetic approach, more delicate and sophisticated wares such as this jar, were produced at the same t.mes to cater to the needs of the imperial family and the court at large in the new palace buildings in Beijing. The present jar, which was probably designed to hold chess pieces, may have been destined for the Emperor’s private quarters towards the back of the Forbidden City. Such pieces were made with the greatest care, in very small numbers.

Many different glaze colours were experimented with at the imperial kilns during this period, and even closely related, yet clearly distinguishable shades could be created with daunting precision. No less than three types of pale greenish glazes, for example, appear to have been developed and employed side by side in the Yongle reign, all of which look rather different in real life, but less so in illustrations. In the West all three are thus generally referred to as ‘wintergreen’. In China, however, they are clearly differentiated by different terms.

The sparkling bluish-green glaze of the present jar – arguably the most desirable and the most prestigious green hue – is in China called cuiqing. Cui means ‘kingfisher’ and is used to denote any kind of blue green reminiscent of the bird’s plumage, for example, that of a kind of green bamboo, or that of jadeite. What in China is generally called ‘wintergreen’ (dongqing), but also ‘Eastern green’ (dongqing written with a different dong character), is a more typical celadon colour, more yellowish and less glassy, probably intended to imitate Longquan celadon, which is known from Yongle stem bowls. Finally, a paler, more watery, bluish-tinged glaze is seen on some deep conical bowls with incised lotus scrolls, which have been attributed to various fifteenth-century periods and in China are now generally dated to the Yongle reign. That glaze is called qingbai (‘bluish- or greenish-white’), thus again relating it to a ware of the past.

‘Jadeite green’, or cuiqing, porcelains are among the rarest monochrome pieces successfully created at that t.mes . Only five other pieces glazed in this colour appear to be recorded: The pair to this jar, of the same shape, but lacking its cover, is in the collects ion of the Palace Museum, Beijing. Two closely related jars with this kind of glaze are preserved from the Qing court collects ion, both of very similar form, with a similar cover, but with three small lugs attached around the shoulder: one now in the Palace Museum, Beijing (fig. 1), is illustrated in Mingdai Hongwu Yongle yuyao ciqi/Imperial Porcelains from the Reigns of Hongwu and Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, Beijing, 2015, pl. 122; and again in The Complete collects ion of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 123; the other, now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (fig. 2) was included in the Museum’s exhibition Shi yu xin: Mingdai Yongle huangdi de ciqi/Pleasingly Pure and Lustrous: Porcelains from the Yongle Reign (1403-1424) of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 2017, catalogue, pp. 82-3. Two other jars of this latter shape have survived without a cover: one, retaining the three lugs, is now in the Museum of Replica Handbags s, Boston (fig. 3) illustrated in Wu Tung, Earth Transformed: Chinese Ceramics in the Museum of Replica Handbags s, Boston, Boston, 1998, pp. 112-3 and on the dust jacket; the other, with the lugs ground down, has been sold at Christie’s New York, 16th/17th September 2010, lot 1357.

After the Yongle period this subtle colouration, which requires impeccably prepared materials and utmost control of the firing, was abandoned and never properly revived, even though a large range of exquisite bluish-green glaze tones were created again three centuries later, in the Yongzheng reign (1723-1735), quite possibly modelled on pieces such as this jar, which undoubtedly would have caught the Yongzheng Emperor’s eye.

The celadon glaze (dongqing) is known from five contemporary Yongle stem bowls: two in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Mingdai Hongwu Yongle yuyao ciqi, op.cit., pl. 141 and The Complete collects ion of Treasures, op.cit., pl. 124; and in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuguan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pl. 88; one in the Tibet Museum, illustrated in Xizang Bowuguan cang Ming Qing ciqi jingpin/Ming and Qing Dynasties Ceramics Preserved in Tibet Museum, Beijing, 2004, pl. 26; and two sold in our rooms, one with anhua dragons around the interior and a four-character Yongle mark incised in the centre, sold in Hong Kong, 24th November 1981, lot 133, and again in these rooms, 22nd March 2001, lot 90; the other unmarked, sold in our London rooms, 7th April 1981, lot 252, and in our Hong Kong rooms, 11th May 1983, lot 105. For a pale bluish-green (qingbai) glazed piece in the Palace Museum, Beijing, see the bowl from the Qing court collects ion illustrated in The Complete collects ion of Treasures, op.cit., pl. 125, there also attributed to the Yongle period.

The endearing shape of this jar is also extremely rare, but is similarly seen on monochrome 'sweet-white' jars with incised decoration, now all lacking their covers; one such piece, preserved in the Shanghai Museum, is published in Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi/Studies of the Shanghai Museum collects ions: A Series of Monographs. Mingdai guanyao ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pl. 4-12 (fig. 4); another was sold in these rooms, 4th June 1985, lot 1, from the J.M. Hu Family collects ion; and a third jar of this form in the National Palace Museum, Taiwan, was included in the exhibition Mingdai chunian ciqi tezhan mulu/Catalogue of a Special Exhibition of Early Ming Period Porcelain, Taipei, 1982, cat. no. 55, illustrated with a non-matching cover. Like the ‘jadeite green’ jars, these white jars with incised design were also made in two similar versions, with and without lugs; for the latter see an example illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe collects ion, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 664.

The shape may be following earlier jars for chess pieces, although the proportions and form of the cover were much adjusted in the Yongle period; for a Song (960-1279) example from the Yaozhou kilns compare the jar from the Le Cong Tang collects ion, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 3rd October 2017, lot 2, illustrated together with a companion piece from the kiln site, fig. 1; for a Yuan (1279-1368) blue-and-white example see the exhibition catalogue Jingdezhen chutu Yuan Ming guanyao ciqi [Yuan and Ming imperial porcelain excavated at Jingdezhen], Yan-Huang Art Museum, Beijing, 1999, cat. no. 1.

康蕊君

本品翠青釉蓋罐，永樂御瓷之獨珍，景德鎮官窰之大成。觀其形，怡和謙素，靈俊秀美；賞其釉，清柔禪靜，縹緲空翠。如山，平林漠漠，一帶春煙碧；似水，雲湖漫漫，引夢江南憶。同類者，除本品外，唯見五例，僅兩例連蓋，本為清宮舊藏，現存兩岸故宮，而與本品同形且連蓋者，尚未見他例。

永樂帝，應天登基，後遷都北京，所臨一朝輝煌鼎盛，大行創新，設各類御作，除瓷器外，另作漆器、掐絲琺瑯器、紡織品、鎏金銅佛等，皆工藝出眾，絕冠古今，大放異彩。時景德鎮御器廠，工藝臻精，產量極豐，今御窰遺址之所出，即為佐證，不論釉色、技術、器形、設計，新品層出，幾近所極，以致後世數百年間未見重要創新，直至十八世紀，西方彩料傳入中國，方再次推動瓷業大為發展。

永樂一朝，廣開疆域，奉行通使，常以瓷品賞賜外邦，所製器多尺寸碩大，紋飾風格亦略偏粗曠。然另見秀雅精熟之品，則獨為明廷而燒，供於皇室，以盈新都。本品蓋罐，原應作貯棋子之用，或曾置於皇帝寢宮等處，恭造細製，所燒極少。

此時期御窰大膽創新，試燒不同釉色，近色之品，亦嚴加區分，以臻成色精準。時新創此等青釉品種不下三類，實物釉色可見差異，而僅見示圖則概難區分。西方均將此類釉稱為冬青釉，而中國則有更詳類分。

其一謂翠青，色最佳，翠碧嬌嫩，瑩亮光潤。其二為冬青或東青，較接近普通青釉，釉色微微閃黃，釉質略少硬亮，應意仿龍泉，可見永樂高足盌例。其三青白，可見盌例，暗花劃蓮紋，曾多被斷至十五世紀各朝，今中國普遍認為當屬永樂，意仿宋青白瓷。

永樂翠青釉品，尤為珍罕，除本品，僅五例見經著錄：北京故宮博物院藏一無蓋罐例與本品同形。兩相類蓋罐例，皆屬清宮舊藏，形相近，肩作三繫，其一藏北京故宮博物院（圖一），錄於《明代洪武永樂御窰瓷器》，北京，2015年，圖版122，以及《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．顏色釉》，香港，1999年，圖版123；其二藏台北故宮博物院（圖二），展於《適於心：明代永樂皇帝的瓷器》，台北，2017年，圖錄，頁82-3。另見兩例，亦作三繫，無蓋：其一，藏波士頓美術館（圖三），收錄在吳同，《Earth Transformed: Chinese Ceramics in the Museum of Replica Handbags s, Boston》，波士頓，1998年，頁112-3及護封；其二，三繫經截，售於紐約佳士得2010年9月16至17日，編號1357。

翠青釉品，必著精材，嚴控窰火，方成佳器，故自永樂之後，已然棄燒，直至三百年後，雍正帝尚雅，始著力復興青釉品種，而此類品即應為模本之一。

永樂冬青釉品，可參考五件高足盌例：兩例藏北京故宮博物院，錄於《明代洪武永樂御窰瓷器》，前述出處，圖版141及《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集》，前述出處，圖版124，以及耿寶昌編，《故宮博物院藏古陶瓷資料選粹》，北京，2005年，卷1，圖版88；一例藏西藏博物館，載於《西藏博物館藏明清瓷器精品》，北京，2004年，圖版26；蘇富比拍賣兩例，其一內壁飾暗花龍紋，署永樂年製四字篆款，售於香港蘇富比1981年11月24日，編號133，繼售紐約蘇富比2001年3月22日，編號90；其二無款，售於倫敦蘇富比1981年4月7日，編號252及香港蘇富比1983年5月11日，編號105。青白釉品，見一盌例，斷代永樂，清宮舊藏，現藏北京故宮博物院，收錄在《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集》，前述出處，圖版125。

同形罐例，亦極罕見，類例可見甜白釉品，飾暗花，目前所知均無蓋：參考一例，藏上海博物館，錄陸明華，《上海博物館藏品研究大系》，上海，2007年，圖版4-12（圖四）；亦見一例，售紐約蘇富比1985年6月4日，編號1，胡惠春家族珍藏；第三例藏台北故宮博物院，展《明代初年瓷器特展目錄》，台北，1982年，編號55，配蓋而示。如翠青釉品，此類甜白釉暗花罐亦分帶繫及無繫兩種；後者可見一例，載於 Bo Gyllensvärd，《Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe collects ion》，斯德哥爾摩，1964年，圖版664。

本罐之形，或基於早期圍棋蓋罐，加以變化而精進。參考一宋代蓋罐例，耀州窰，樂從堂珍藏，售香港蘇富比2017年10月3日，編號2，同見一相類作例，耀州窰遺址出土，圖1；另見一元青花例，見於展𧢂《景德鎮出土元明官窰瓷器》，炎黃藝術館，北京，1999年，編號1。

Past Auction

Monochrome II