A fine and rare blue and white 'floral' charger, Ming dynasty, Yongle period | 明永樂　青花花卉紋折沿盤

Kochukyo Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

5th Anniversary Exhibition. All-Stars of the Okada Collection: Masterworks of Korin, Jakuchu, Hokusai and the Ru Ware Kilns, Okada Museum of Art, Hakone, 2018-19, exh. no. 65 (unillustrated).

Large dishes such as the present example were an innovation of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) and their continued production during the Yongle reign (1403-24) may reflect the Yongle emperor's interest in having the imperial kilns create porcelains suitable for export. Even today, more dishes of this type are preserved in the royal collections of the Safavids in Iran and the Ottomans in Turkey than in China or elsewhere. Their availability appears, however, to have been strictly controlled by the court and their sale may have been affected directly through the fleets of Zheng He (1371-1435), the Imperial eunuch who led six immense maritime expeditions westwards as far as East Africa for the Yongle Emperor. Excavations of the Ming imperial kiln site at Zhushan in Jingdezhen have shown that Yongle dishes of this type can be attributed to the early part of the reign as shards of such large blue-and-white vessels have been discovered, for example, in stratum three of the Zhonghua Road excavation site in Jingdezhen immediately above the Hongwu (1368-98) stratum.

A closely related dish is illustrated in John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine, Washington, 1956, pl. 34; and another, inscribed with Farsi around the foot rim with the name of the emperor Shah Jehan and a date corresponding to 1632, is published in Peter Hardie, 'China's Ceramic Trade with India, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1983-84, vol. 48, p. 19, pl. 3. Dishes of this type can be found in important public and private collections worldwide; see one in the Palace Museum, included in the Illustrated Catalogue of Ming Dynasty Porcelain, Taipei, 1977, pl. 37; one published in John Ayers, The Baur Collection, Geneva, 1969, vol. II, pl. A140; and another illustrated in Michael Sullivan, Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades in the Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow, London, 1963, pl. 131a. A dish from the T.Y. Chao collection, included in the exhibition Ming and Ch'ing Porcelain from the Collection of the T.Y. Chao Family Foundation, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1978, cat. no. 5, was sold in these rooms, 18^th November 1986, lot 35; another was sold in our New York rooms, 20^th March 2007, lot 751; and a third example was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 29^th May 2007, lot 1451.

Compare also a similar dish excavated at Dongmentou, Zhushan, in 1994, and included in the exhibition Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Kaohsiung Museum of Replica Handbags s, Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 44.

來源

壺中居，東京

展覽

《開館5周年記念展―美のスターたち―光琳．若冲．北斎．汝窯など名品勢ぞろい》， 岡田美術館，箱根，2018-19年，展覽編號65（沒載圖）

此類大盤乃元朝創新器型，永樂時期持續燒製，或顯示了永樂皇帝旨令御窰瓷以資外銷的傾向。迄今存世者多見於伊朗薩法維王朝與土耳其奧斯曼帝國王室舊藏，其數量遠超中土乃至世界其他地域所藏。然考其流通方式，似始終受朝廷嚴格管控，或經由鄭和（1371-1435年）船隊直接販運。這位宮廷宦官曾奉永樂帝之命六度率船隊西渡，遠抵東非。景德鎮珠山明代御窰遺址考古成果表明，此類永樂大盤均屬永樂早期作品，以景德鎮中華路窰址發掘為例，第三地層（緊鄰洪武地層）出土的青花大盤殘片即可佐證此斷代。

一相近例刊載於John Alexander Pope，《Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine》(阿德比爾神殿之中國瓷器)，華盛頓，1956年 ，圖版 34；另有一例於足沿處刻波斯銘文，載有沙賈汗皇帝名號及對應1632年之紀年，發表於Peter Hardie，《China's Ceramic Trade with India》（中國對印度陶瓷貿易），《東方陶瓷學會會刊》，倫敦，1983-84年，卷48，頁19，圖版3。此類器物現分別藏於全球重要公私收藏機構：見北故宮博物院藏一例，收錄於《明代瓷器圖錄》，台北，1977年，圖版37；日內瓦鮑氏基金會藏一例，John Ayers，《The Baur Collection》（鮑爾藏中國陶瓷），日內瓦，1969年，卷二，圖版A140；另有大維德爵士舊藏一例，載於Michael Sullivan，《Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades in the Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow》（巴羅藏中國陶瓷、青銅與玉器），倫敦，1963年，圖版131a。趙從衍家族基金會舊藏一例曾展於《明清代瓷器：趙從衍家族基金會藏》，香港藝術館，香港，1978年，編號5，後釋出於香港蘇富比1986年11月18日，編號35號；另一例售於紐約蘇富比2007年3月20日，編號751；第三例則於香港佳士得2007年5月29日，編號1451易主。

另可參照1994年於珠山東門頭出土的一件相似盤例，該器曾展出於《景德鎮出土明洪武永樂官窯瓷器》，高雄市立美術館，台北，1996年，編號44。