A fine and rare anhua-decorated Replica Belts weet-white' 'dragon' tea bowl, Incised seal mark and period of Yongle | 明永樂 甜白釉暗花雙龍紋茶鍾 《永樂年製》刻款

Christie's Hong Kong, 2nd December 2015, lot 3111.

香港佳士得2015年12月2日，編號3111

The present bowl belongs to a group of sweet white-glazed (tianbai) porcelain bowls favoured during the Yongle period. Its subtle combination of incised and anhua decoration on an exquisitely potted tea bowl manifested one of the most classic decorative repertoires in the early Ming dynasty. Anhua, 'hidden decoration', was practised almost exclusively at the beginning of the Ming dynasty, from the Hongwu to the Xuande period, and only at Jingdezhen.

Beautifully decorated in the anhua technique with two five-clawed dragons writhing amidst ruyi-clouds and surrounding a finely incised seal mark enclosed within a flaming pearl, the present bowl is very rare with few examples known to exist. Compare a similar bowl, but with the mark enclosed within a circle instead, now housed in the Taipei Palace Museum, exhibited in Empty Vessels, Replenished Minds: the Culture, Practice, and Art of Tea, Taipei, 2002, cat. no. 36.

白釉瓷，以明朝永樂年江西景德鎮御窰為上佳，而本品精巧，冠絕一時。永樂帝深崇佛教儀式，白彩乃儀式中最重要之色，白釉瓷更特為永樂帝所喜。故此，比諸歷代各朝，永樂御匠更不惜心力，精心研製白釉釉方，以盡求善美。永樂白釉，溫澤柔和，凝潤光亮，釉稱「甜白」，豐厚甜膩，巧奪天工。

此茶鍾撇口，器壁均薄，器形端麗秀美，通體施甜白釉，釉色腴潤甜膩，內壁印飾雙雲龍紋，外壁光素潔白。器心針刻「永樂年製」四字二行篆書款，外加火焰寶珠雙圈。相類之作寥若晨星，可參考台北故宮博物院所藏一類例，惟刻款外加單圈，載於《也可以清心：茶器、茶事、茶畫》，台北，2002年，編號36。書中指出此類茶鍾依清宮舊名定為「永樂款白瓷脫胎暗龍茶鍾」，為宮廷品茶御器佳品。