AN EXTREMELY RARE FAUX BOIS STRAP-HANDLED PAIL -

以中文顯示 (Set Currency)

HK$3,000,000 - HK$5,000,000
• ($388,839 - $648,065)

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Sale 2711
the imperial saleimportant chinese ceramics and works of art
27 May 2009
Convention Hall Buy Catalog

AN EXTREMELY RARE FAUX BOIS STRAP-HANDLED PAIL
YONGZHENG GILT SIX-CHARACTER SEALMARK AND OF THE PERIOD (1723-1735)

The rounded body of characteristic truncated ovoid form extending at the sides into a pair of wide gently incurving handles bridged at the top by a shaped strut with a central aperture for hanging, the ten separate vertical staves of the vessel exquisitely and naturalistically enamelled to the interior and exterior in shades of brown and ochre to simulate a knotted wood grain, the staves bound together at the widest point of the mid-section with moulded yellow enamelled simulated rattan straps, repeated around the base
15 in. (38 cm.) high, box

藝術寫真
蘇玫瑰 - 國際亞洲藝術部學術總監

此件珍罕的雍正御製仿木紋瓷桶,是展示清朝利用釉上彩的想像力以模仿其他材質與誇耀創造能力的最佳典範。在雍正與乾隆朝間, 御窰廠調配創造出前所未有的多樣釉色及釉上彩設計效果。臺北故宮博物院藏一組搬指九枚 , 釉色各異, 有仿木、竹、抱子石及大理石紋理, 有的呈現漆器、金銀錯銅質地, 也有追仿孔雀石和綠松石紋路, 正是最佳證明。雖然絕大部分此類仿釉彩瓷傳世品多是乾隆朝作品, 但是流傳至今的少數雍正瓷中, 件件都是精品, 而且多為仿木紋釉器。

各式釉彩中, 有兩種以氧化鐵發色的紅彩最適合模擬木紋效果。中國製瓷史上很早便開始使用紅彩, 到了十八世紀, 工匠發現如果以硝酸鉀代替氧化鉛為熔劑, 氧化鐵紅彩可以呈現出偏橘色的效果, 十分接近漆器以及木紋的質感。 同時,藉由降低石灰質與氧化鐵的比例, 達到施薄釉的效果, 使瓷器可以於還原焰中燒成, 於氧化氣氛中冷卻, 燒造出多層次的釉彩, 包括不同深淺的棕紅及橙紅, 以達成如本件提桶所見之逼真仿木紋效果。

傳世雍正瓷帶仿木紋釉的器物大多為文房用品, 而且多用於點綴效果。北京故宮博物院藏有一只瓷筆筒 , 中央以墨彩繪山水圖紋, 上下沿飾幾可以假亂真的仿木紋釉。另一只雍正粉彩瓷筆筒繪人物山水 , 藏於倫敦維多利亞與阿爾伯特博物院, 也是相似的裝飾風格。還有一件舊金山美術館藏的雍正款連座鏤空瓷筆筒, 底座亦施類似木紋釉。

清十八世紀期間, 似乎十分風行仿木紋釉。瀋陽故宮博物院 及南京博物院 各藏有一只仿木釉金裏盌; 瀋陽故宮博物院還有另一只內外皆施仿木紋釉的淺盌 。臺北故宮博物院藏有一把乾隆年代的多穆壺 , 施仿木紋釉, 器身上仿鑲銅凸邊飾,與此件提桶上的仿編織凸飾帶有異曲同工之妙。

北京故宮博物院收藏一只帶雍正款的三足盆 , 無論是在仿木紋以及木板拼接的細節, 或是仿編織凸飾帶的式樣, 都與此件如出一轍。另一件瑞士玫茵堂藏無款但是定代雍正至乾隆朝間的一件仿木紋釉桶, 編織飾帶就只是平面繪於器身而非如本件或是北京故宮藏品的為立體裝飾。

中國各地所製造的木桶比例與型制並無統一標準, 但作法皆為利用木板拼接, 再以編繩於腹部和底部緊緊紮捆, 完全如同本件提桶的樣子一般。至於提把部分,則有不同材質的選擇, 可以是木柄,或是繩索, 也有混合二者使用。北京故宮收藏的「雍正像耕織圖冊」裡, 第八開「淤蔭」 中可見畫工將身為皇子的胤禎繪成農夫, 身旁有兩只木桶, 桶上耳間打洞穿繩; 第十四開「灌溉」 則見桶口支一根木棖, 型制接近本件但是比較簡單, 提手也不如本件精美複雜。

除了本件外, 惟一出版過的雍正仿木紋釉提桶, 是上海博物館藏品, 收錄於2002年三木出版社出版, 汪慶正著錄的《中國陶瓷辭典》中, 第228頁, 右下角, 無論是器型與大小, 二者皆十分相近, 差別只有上海博物館藏品落青花款。

《乾隆皇帝的文化大業》第199頁, 圖例V-36。國立故宮博物院, 2002。
《故宮珍藏康雍乾瓷器圖錄》第239頁, 圖例 68。紫禁城出版社, 1989。
《維多利亞與阿爾伯特國立博物院藏中國清代瓷器》第159頁, 圖例99。廣西美術出版社,1995。
《瀋陽故宮博物院院藏文物精粹: 瓷器卷下》第193 頁, 圖例5 。 萬卷出版社, 2008。
《清瓷萃珍》圖例73 。南京博物院,香港中文大學文物館, 1995。
前述《瀋陽故宮博物院院藏文物精粹: 瓷器卷下》第195 頁, 圖例6 。
《清康雍乾名瓷特展》第138頁, 圖例111。臺北國立故宮博物院, 1986。
前述《故宮珍藏康雍乾瓷器圖錄》第317頁, 圖例 146。
《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集14 : 清代宮廷繪畫》第77頁, 圖例 11-8。商務印書館, 1996。
前述《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集14 : 清代宮廷繪畫》第79頁, 圖例 11-14。

清雍正 仿木紋釉提桶 描金六字篆書款

I confirm that I have read this Important Notice and agree to its terms.

ARTISTIC INGENUITY - A YONGZHENG FAUX BOIS PAIL
ROSEMARY SCOTT, INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC DIRECTOR, ASIAN ART

This very rare porcelain pail is an exceptional example of the ability of the ceramic decorators in the Qing dynasty to imitate a range of different materials using enamel colours on porcelain. A new array of glaze and enamel colours were developed in the Imperial workshops during the Kangxi and Yongzheng periods, thus the craftsmen had a vastly enlarged palette with which to create new designs and effects on porcelain. The 18th century fascination with imitating other materials through the use of glazes and enamels on porcelain can clearly be seen in a set of nine thumb rings in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, each of which imitates a different material, including wood, bamboo, marble, pudding stone, inlaid bronze, malachite and turquoise (see Emperor Ch'ien-lung's Grand Cultural Enterprise, National Palace Museum, Taipei, p. 199, no. V-36). While the largest number of porcelains decorated to imitate other materials were made during the reign of the Qianlong emperor, the few examples that have survived from the Yongzheng reign are of particularly high quality, and mostly feature the imitation of wood.

Two of the colours that particularly facilitated the imitation of wood were two orangey reds, both created using iron oxide. Iron-red enamels had a long history on Chinese ceramics, but in the 18th Century the craftsmen discovered that if they replaced some of the lead oxide used as a flux in the original iron-red enamel recipe with potassium nitrate, they could achieve an orangey red that was good for imitating both lacquer as well as the grain of certain woods. They also discovered an orangey red glaze that could be fired at high temperatures, which was probably produced using a highly feldspathic low-lime porcelain glaze with a low iron oxide content, and which could be applied thinly, fired in reduction and cooled in oxidation. The wide range of colours available, including an extremely subtle range of browns and orangey reds, have allowed the ceramic decorator to create the very realistic wood effect on the current pail.

A number of porcelains with faux bois decoration from the Yongzheng reign are items for the scholar's desk, and are only partly decorated in faux bois. A Yongzheng brush pot in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, has faux bois on the interior and providing decorative bands top and bottom on the exterior, while the main exterior band is decorated with a landscape in sepia enamels (illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, Forbidden City Publishing/Woods Publishing, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 239, no. 68). Another Yongzheng brush pot, of similar proportions to the example in the Palace Museum, but with famille rose design of figures in landscape as the main exterior band, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (illustrated by Ke Meigui, Weiduoliya he A'erbode guoli bowuyuan cang - Zhongguo Qing dai ciqi, Guangxi meishu chubanshe, 1995, p. 159, no. 99). A brush holder with its integral stand decorated in faux bois, and bearing a Yongzheng mark, is in the collection of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (illustrated by He Li in Chinese Ceramics, Thames and Hudson, London, 1996, p. 305, no. 659).

The imitation of wood on porcelain seems to have become a fascination during the 18th century and a small number of porcelain vessels has been preserved on which the faux bois effect have been achieved with particular success and applied on most, or all, of the surfaces of the vessel, as in the case of the current pail. Two shallow, unmarked, bowls with faux bois exteriors and gold interiors are in the Shenyang Palace collection and the collection of the Nanjing Museum (illustrated in The Prime Cultural Relics Collected by Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum - Chinaware volume, second part, Shenyang, 2008, no. 5; and in Qing Imperial Porcelain, Nanjing Museum and Art Gallery, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1995, no. 73, respectively). A similar bowl with faux bois inside and out is also in the Shenyang Palace collection (illustrated Shenyang Imperial Palace Museum - Chinaware volume, second part, op. cit., no. 6). A duomuhu ritual vessel, dated to the Qianlong reign, which has faux bois on the exterior with imitation gilt bronze bands, is in the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated in Catalog of the Special Exhibition of K'ang-his, Yung-cheng and Ch'ien-lung Porcelain Ware from the Ch'ing Dynasty in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1986, no. 111). In the same way in which the rattan strapping depicted on the current pail is in low relief, so are the gilt bronze bands depicted on this ritual ewer.

A Yongzheng marked basin standing on three small feet with faux bois on the exterior is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Kangxi, Yongzheng, Qianlong - Qing Porcelain from the Palace Museum Collection, op. cit., p. 317, no. 146). The skilful depiction of the wood grain and separate planks on this vessel, as well as the low relief and careful painting of the two bands of plaited rattan strapping around the basin are very similar to those seen on the current vessel. An unmarked faux bois bucket without handles from the Meiyintang collection was included in the exhibition China - The Three Emperors 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005, pp. 304-5, no. 235), where it was dated to the Yongzheng-Qianlong period. However, unlike the current pail and the Yongzheng marked three-footed basin in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the rattan strapping on the Meiyintang bucket is only painted onto the vessel, rather than also being in low relief.

Traditional wooden pails were made in different proportions in China, but were usually made from planks of wood held tightly together by two bands of plaited rattan strapping, as depicted on the current Yongzheng porcelain pail. The handles were of different types, sometimes of wood, sometimes of rope, and sometimes a mixture of the two. One of the famous album leaves of Portaits of Emperor Yongzheng Ploughing and Weaving, in which the Yongzheng emperor is shown taking part in horticultural and sericultural scenes from the Yuzhi Gengzhi tu, shows him with two pails which have raised, pierced lugs on either side to which the rope handles are attached (see The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 14 Paintings by the Court Artists of the Qing Court, Commercial Press, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 77, no. 11-8), while another leaf in the same album shows the emperor transferring water using a pail with a wooden crossbar (see ibid, p. 79, no. 11-14). The latter pail is a simpler version of the current form, which has a more elaborate, closed, extended handle.

Only one other Yongzheng faux bois porcelain pail of the same shape and size as the current vessel appears to have been published. An almost identical pail in the collection of the Shanghai Museum is illustrated by Wang Qingzheng (ed.) in Dictionary of Chinese Ceramics, Sun Tree Publishing, Singapore, 2002, p. 228, lower right, and illustrated again in Masterpieces of Beauty (3) East-West Exchange and Imperial Culture - Ceramics of Yuan, Ming and Qing, 1991, p. 145, no. 158, where it is noted that the Yongzheng mark is in underglaze-blue (see fig. 1).

Bill Little, Chicago

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