A fine and rare yellow-ground green-enamelled 'dragon' vase, Seal mark and period of Qianlong | 清乾隆 黃地綠彩雲龍紋貫耳穿帶橄欖瓶 《大清乾隆年製》款

Christie's London, 25th November 1974, lot 212 (one of a pair).

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 29th November 1976, lot 579  (one of a pair).

Christie's Hong Kong, 27th May 2008, lot 1595.

倫敦佳士得1974年11月25日，編號212（一對之一）

香港蘇富比1976年11月29日，編號579（一對之一）

香港佳士得2008年5月27日，編號1595

Anthony du Boulay, Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics, Oxford, 1984, p. 212, pl. 2.

Sotheby's Hong Kong – Twenty Years, 1973-1993, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 371.

Anthony du Boulay，《Christie's Pictorial History of Chinese Ceramics》，牛津，1984年，頁212，圖版2

《香港蘇富比二十週年》，香港，1993年，圖版371

This magnificent vase, with its superbly proportioned archaistic form and vivid green-and-yellow dragon design, is not only remarkable for its intricately incised dragon motif, but also extremely unusual for the use of this striking, contrasting colour scheme. Although the combination of green and yellow enamels on Jingdezhen porcelain dates back to the Yongle period (1403-24) in the early Ming dynasty, this colour scheme is more commonly found on bowls and dishes, and rarely on upright forms. Compare a bowl with two dragons and lacking the crashing waves, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan cang: Qingdai yuyao ciqi / Qing Porcelains from the Imperial Kilns Preserved in the Palace Museum, vol. 1, part 2, Beijing, 2005, pl. 7.

The form of this vase is modelled after the archaic bronze hu, which was originally created as ritual and ceremonial wine containers, even down to the pierced slots at the foot below the handles. See, for example, bronze hu of this form from the mid-Western Zhou period (c. 1046-771 BC) illustrated in Peng Qingyun, ed., Zhongguo wenwu jinghua da cidian: Qingtong juan / Encyclopaedia of Masterpieces of Chinese Cultural Relics: Bronze volume, Shanghai, 1995, nos 0464, 0465 and 0467. Such vessels were later recreated from around the Song dynasty (960-1279). While some were used for the touhu, 'pitch-pot', game where players had to throw arrows into the mouth or tubular handles of the vessel, others were used as flower vases to decorate the scholar's studio, such as a slightly shorter Longquan celadon vase from the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), of related form but with a wider mouth and smaller handles, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Longquan of the World. Longquan Celadon and Globalization, vol. 1: A History of Thousands of Years, Beijing, 2019, pl. 66.

The present vase is remarkably rare; see two related yellow-and-green vases in the Palace Museum, Beijing, from the Qing court collection, one of Yongzheng mark and period but without handles or pierced slots and decorated with a flower-and-cloud design, the other with incised Qianlong mark and of the period, with a single dragon; see Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong: Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 236, pl. 65 and p. 442, pl. 124. Compare also two similar Qianlong vases, one sold at Christie's New York, 17th September 2008, lot 480; the other from the Krieger Collection, sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1595.

本品器形古雅，顔彩明豔清朗，極為罕見。景德鎮之黃地綠彩瓷器雖可追溯到明初永樂一朝，惟此配色多常見於盤盌，瓶子等琢器作例則甚為稀少。北京故宮藏一雙龍盌，無波浪紋，收錄於《故宮博物館藏清代御窰瓷器》，卷1（下），北京，2005年，圖版7。

此瓶傚擬上古青銅壺，腳部穿孔，原型用於奉先祀祖之禮。參見一西周初青銅壺，載於彭卿雲編，《中國文物精華大辭典：青銅卷》，上海，1995年，編號0464、0465及0467。宋朝起摹燒相類器皿，部份用於「投壺」遊戲，玩家向壺口或貫耳投箭，亦用作裝飾文房之花瓶。見一稍矮元代龍泉青釉例，北京故宮博物院蓄，錄於《天下龍泉：龍泉青瓷與全球化》，卷一：千年龍泉，北京，2019年，圖板66。

此瓶甚爲珍罕，可參考北京故宮博物院藏兩黃地綠彩例：一署《大清雍正年製》款例，足部無穿孔或貫耳，帶花雲紋；及一《大清乾隆年製》款龍紋例；參見《故宮珍藏康雍乾瓷器圖錄》，香港，1989年，頁236，圖版65及頁442，圖版124。另可參考兩拍賣乾隆例，分別售於紐約佳士得2008年9月17日，編號480；另一原為德國 Krieger 收藏，後售於香港佳士得2008年5月27日，編號1595。