AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE GREEN AND YELLOW ENAMELLED INCISED 'DRAGON' VASE -

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HK$7,000,000 - HK$9,000,000
• ($905,963 - $1,164,810)

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Sale 2811
The Imperial Sale Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
31 May 2010
Hong Kong Buy Catalog

AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE GREEN AND YELLOW ENAMELLED INCISED 'DRAGON' VASE
KANGXI SIX-CHARACTER MARK WITHIN DOUBLE-CIRCLES AND OF THE PERIOD (1662-1722)

The vase rising from a tapered foot to an oviform body before a gently waisted neck and trumpet mouth with a lipped rim, the exterior well carved and decorated with green enamel to depict a large scaly five-clawed dragon descending in pursuit of a 'flaming pearl', amidst scattered ruyi clouds and jagged flames, all against a bright yellow ground
10 in. (25.5 cm.) high, wood stand, boxes

清康熙 黃地綠彩雲龍戲珠橄欖瓶 雙圈三行六字楷書款

腹呈橄欖形。口外撇，束頸細長、溜肩，弧腹漸收，足外撇。通體雞油黃地，器內施白釉。胎上刻一條矯健游龍，游弋於雲海之中，追逐前面的火珠，紋飾上施綠彩。底施白釉，青花雙圈內書「大清康熙年製」製楷書款。

此器造型輕盈秀雅，釉色嬌艷，是康熙朝瓷器中少見的作品。

此器源自英國派駐海峽殖民地總督瑞天咸爵士，1946年11月8日於倫敦佳士得拍賣，拍品192號。後藏 Montague Meyer collection, 1988年11月 16日於香港蘇富比拍賣，拍品413號。
龍興雲屬：康熙黃地綠彩龍紋橄欖瓶
蘇玫瑰 – 國際亞洲藝術部學術總監

此瓶長頸溜肩，圓腹撇足，造型典雅秀美，在各式橄欖瓶中以婀娜嫵媚見長，故歷經康雍乾三朝盛世仍風行不衰。頗堪玩味的是，康熙橄欖瓶的樣式修長挺拔，相比之下，雍正瓶的頸部較為粗短。乾隆瓶亦承襲了這種風格，但當時的瓷工亦有燒造瓶口和脛部均無外撇的作品。

這類康熙瓶式頗不尋常，但日內瓦包爾珍藏 (Baur collection) 中有二例：其一施淺色鈷藍，鈾下刻花，器身比本拍品略長，圖見John Ayers所著《Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection》卷二頁60-61編號182 [A328] (日內瓦：1999)；其二比本拍品略小，透明釉下淺雕紋飾，請見前述著作頁64-65編號185 [A411]。北京故宮博物院珍藏一件瓶式相同的典型雍正青花橄欖瓶，其外觀與本拍品諸多相通之處，詳見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集36：青花釉裏紅 (下)》頁93編號79 (香港：2000)。故宮珍藏中尚有二例已發表的近似雍正瓶：一瓶施單色銅紅釉，圖見《故宮博物院藏清代御窰瓷器卷一 (下冊)》頁38-9編號9 (北京：2005)，另一例施明淨素雅的仿官釉，見前述著作頁342-3編號157。但與康熙瓶相比，前述雍正作品的頸部顯然較粗短，器口外撇幅度更大。北京故宮藏一件器形相近的貫耳瓶，其色澤和紋樣俱與本拍品庶幾相合，圖見《清盛世瓷選粹》頁349編號85 (北京：1994)。一對近似的乾隆貫耳瓶曾於1974年11月25日經倫敦佳士得拍出 (拍品212號)，其後2008年5月27日於香港佳士得拍賣，拍品1595號 (圖一)。

縱使乾隆時期的作品多了雙貫耳，而且足脛添加了一道深淺相間的寬碩綠色海水紋，但是次拍賣的康熙瓶無疑應是十八世紀乾隆瓶的師法對象。本拍品通體僅繪一條雄姿勃發、威猛飛揚的虯龍，襯以朵雲，火熖及火珠，而近似的乾隆瓶由於添加了足脛的海水紋，所以其龍紋相對較短。

這種細膩工絕的黃地素胎繪綠彩技法亦見於若干康熙御製瓷器。雖然龍紋瓶十分罕見，但仍有一批繪龍紋的盤盌類傳世之作。南京博物院珍藏一件繪龍紋、朵雲及火珠的折沿宮廷瓷盌，圖見南京博物院編撰的《中國清代官窰瓷器》頁73 (上海：2003)。諾頓美術館 (Norton Museum of Art) 亦珍藏一對康熙龍鳯紋黃地綠彩直口盌，圖見《The Chinese Collection - Selected works from the Norton Museum of Art》頁208-9編號84 (West Palm Beach：2003)。此外，上海博物館亦珍藏一件康熙黃地綠彩雲龍紋盤，詳見《上海博物館藏康熙瓷圖錄》頁304-5編號198 (香港：1998)；上海博物館尚有一件康熙黃地綠彩菊瓣盤，圖見前述著作頁306-7編號199，此器與南京博物院藏菊瓣盤如出一轍，詳見前述著作《中國清代官窰瓷器》第78頁。直接在素胎上施綠黃琺瑯彩的康熙瓶極為罕見，其中一例為南京博物院藏山水瑞獸圖葫蘆瓶，圖見前述著作第90頁。
是次拍賣的康熙黃地綠彩龍紋橄欖瓶工藝卓絕，此器於1946年11月8日經倫敦蘇富比拍出，1988年再由Montague Meyer珍藏售出。

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THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Collection of Sir Frank Swettenham, G.C.M.G., C.H., sold at Christie's London, 8th November, 1946, lot 192
The Montague Meyer collection sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 16 November 1988, lot 413

This elegant vase with its long, slender neck, swelling body and flared foot is perhaps the most graceful of all the versions of the vase form called ganlan, or olive-shaped, in Chinese. This was a form that was admired in all three of the great imperial reigns of the Qing dynasty - Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong. Interestingly, in contrast to the Kangxi attenuated form, the neck of later vessels appears to have become wider and shorter in the Yongzheng reign, and this trend continued into the reign of the Qianlong emperor, while similar vases without flare at either mouth or foot were also made.

Kangxi vases of this form are quite rare, but two are preserved in the Baur collection in Geneva. One of these has a light cobalt blue glaze over incised decoration, and is a little taller than the current yellow and green example (see John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneve, 1999, vol. 2, pp. 60-61, No. 182 [A328]. The other, which is somewhat smaller than the current vase, has shallow relief carving under a colourless glaze (see ibid., pp64-65, no. 185 [A411]. A typical Yongzheng example of the shape, quite closely following the current vase, is a blue and white vessel from the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 36 Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, p. 93, no. 79). Two other Yongzheng examples from the Palace collection are published. One has a monochrome copper red glaze, and is illustrated in Qingdai yuyao ciqi, juan 1 xia, Beijing, 2005, pp. 38-9, no. 9, while the other, covered with a pale imitation Guan glaze, is illustrated in the same volume, pp 342-3, no. 157. The necks of these Yongzheng vases are, however, noticeably shorter and wider than those of the Kangxi examples, and the mouths are more flared. A vase of similar shape, but with tubular handles, similar colours and design to the current example is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selected Porcelain of the Flourishing Qing Dynasty at the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1994, p. 349, no. 85. A pair of Qianlong vases of this latter type was sold in Christie's London rooms. 25 November, 1974, lot 212, AND ONE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY SOLD AT CHRISTIE'S HONG KONG, 27 MAY 2008, LOT 1595. (FIG. 1).

Kangxi vases of the type represented in the current lot, would undoubtedly have provided the prototype for the later 18th century vases, despite the fact that the Qianlong examples have tubular lugs on either side of the neck, and have an additional band of waves in two tones of green around the foot. On the Kangxi example a large and powerful single dragon writhes around the whole body of the vessel, accompanied only by clouds, flames, and flaming pearl, while the length of the dragon on the Qianlong equivalent vase is reduced to allow the inclusion of a wave band around the foot.

The refined use of on-biscuit green enamel designs on yellow ground can be seen on a number of imperial porcelains from the Kangxi reign. Vases with dragon motif are very rare, but this design appears on a number of surviving open-wares. A bowl with everted rim bearing dragon, clouds and flaming pearl is among the porcelains from the imperial collection preserved in the Nanjing Museum (illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty - the Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Nanjing Museum eds., Shanghai, 2003, p. 73). A pair of Kangxi green and yellow straight-rimmed bowls decorated with dragon and phoenix is preserved in the collection of the Norton Museum of Art (illustrated in The Chinese Collection - Selected works from the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, 2003, pp. 208-9, no. 84). A Kangxi dish, decorated with green dragons and clouds on a yellow ground on the exterior, is in the collection of the Shanghai Museum (illustrated Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, pp.304-5, no. 198), while the same collection has a Kangxi green and yellow dragon dish with scalloped edge (illustrated ibid., pp. 306-7, no. 199), similar to another scalloped dish in the Nanjing Museum (illustrated Treasures in the Royalty - the Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, op. cit., p. 78). Although Kangxi vases decorated using green and yellow enamels on the biscuit are rare, there is a double-gourd vase, decorated with auspicious animals in landscape, in the collection of the Nanjing Museum (illustrated ibid, p. 90).

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