The unusual form of this attractive and rare ewer appears to be derived from a Middle Eastern metal shape, but such foreign vessels were rarely taken directly as models in the Qing dynasty. It was generally the potters of the Yongle period in the early Ming dynasty who copied such forms, and the present ewer form, which exists both with and without handle, and comes also with blue-and-white decoration in early Ming style (fig. 1), may be an adaptation of an early Ming porcelain form, which in turn is based on Middle Eastern metal prototypes. Compare a fragmentary white porcelain ewer recovered from the Yongle stratum of the Ming imperial kiln sites, included in the exhibition Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, cat. no. 6. However, a 12th/13th century Iranian metal ewer from the Keir collects ion, which is more closely related to this Qing dynasty form than to the early Ming version, is illustrated in Geza Fehervari, Islamic Metalwork of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir collects ion, London, 1976, pl. 15. See also a 12th-century brass example with a lobed body, sold in our London rooms, 22nd April 2015, lot 5 (fig. 2); and a 14th-century Iranian silver-inlaid brass ewer in the collects ion of the Cleveland Museum of Art (fig. 3).

A very similar ewer of this rare celadon-glazed type from the Avery Brundage collects ion is in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics. A New Standard Guide, London, 1996, pl. 544; see also one sold at Christie’s London, 28th/29th June 1965, lot 98, from the Richard C. Fuller collects ion; and another sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28th November 2005, lot 1312, from the Ruth P. Phillips collects ion.

Vessels of this form are also known with other monochrome glazes, such as a white ewer from the Grandidier collects ion in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great collects ions, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 7, fig. 170. Compare another white ewer from the collects ion of Edward T. Chow, illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Meiyintang collects ion, London, 1994-2010. Vol. 2, no. 794.




粉青釉花澆，器形源自中東金屬器，然清代罕見以外來器形為礎之例，惟可前溯至明永樂時期，明本花澆有含提把、或如本品無把者，亦有青花例（圖一），皆應以中東器為範本。比較明代御窰遺址，永樂時期地層出土白釉花澆殘片，展出於《景德鎮珠山出土永樂宣德官窰瓷器展覽》，香港，1989年，編號6。參考 Keir 珍藏一件十二至十三世紀伊朗金屬花澆，造形與本品近似，更勝明例，錄於 Geza Fehervari，《Islamic Metalwork of the Eighth to the Fifteenth Century in the Keir collects ion》，倫敦，1976年，圖版15。還可參考一件十二世紀黃銅花澆，線條流麗，器腹圓潤，呈瓜棱式，2015年4月22日售於倫敦蘇富比，編號5（圖二）。另可比較克里夫蘭藝術博物館藏十四世紀伊朗黃銅嵌銀花澆（圖三），器流及腹之造型工整方正，卻略乏圓弧曲線。

布倫戴奇舊藏一件青釉花澆，與本品相類，現存舊金山亞洲藝術博物館，刊於賀利，《Chinese Ceramics. A New Standard Guide》，倫敦，1996年，圖版544；並參考倫敦佳士得售出一器，1965年6月28、29日，編號98，出自 Richard C. Fuller 收藏；Ruth P. Phillips 收藏一件類例，2005年11月28日售於香港佳士得，編號1312。

其他單色釉例，如巴黎吉美國立亞洲藝術博物館藏白釉花澆，原為 Grandidier 雅蓄，載於《東洋陶磁大觀》，卷7，東京，1980-82年，圖170。比較仇焱之舊藏白釉花澆，錄於康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，倫敦，1994-2010年，卷2，編號794。

Past Auction

Monochrome II