A very rare doucai brushpot, bitong

Kangxi/Yongzheng

Footnotes

清康熙/雍正 鬥彩人物筆筒

Provenance:
An English private collection
Bonhams London, 11 November 2010, lot 265.
An important Asian private collection

來源：
英國私人舊藏
倫敦邦瀚斯，2010年11月11日，拍品編號265
重要亞洲私人收藏

This doucai brushpot illustrates a mounted official amidst a procession with scholars and attendants. It is possible that the brushpot would have been presented to an official on his appointment to high office, or represented the wish that the recipient will be granted high office following success in the jinshi examinations.

Compare a related doucai brushpot, representing the motif 'five sons passing their examinations', Kangxi period, from the Songde Tang collection, illustrated in Folklore in Ming and Qing Porcelain, Hong Kong, 2019, pp.150-151. See also a further related doucai brushpot, Kangxi, decorated with a scholar and attendants, illustrated in Kangxi Porcelain Wares from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Shanghai, 1998, no.181.

圓柱形，直壁，口底相若，通體施白釉，腹部以鬥彩通景繪高士策馬圖，一人當先回首，笑望眾人，其後二人高談闊論，相視而前；一行人三兩成組，場面熱鬧。胎質堅實，釉面勻淨，釉光柔和，青花發色素雅，釉上彩清新淡雅，草木青綠，人物姿態描摹精緻細膩。

鬥彩初創於宣德時期，至成化朝發展至頂峰。康熙晚期至雍正初期，鬥彩技術承襲成化，又有所創新，使橘紅鮮明，翠綠深亮，施彩薄勻透明，雖為平塗，卻著重用深淺顏色的搭配變化來表現遠近向背，呈現出鮮明的時代特徵。本品即為一例，整體色調以青綠為主，其間偶填紅、赭、黃等色，整體觀之清新可人，翠色欲滴。綠樹嫩草有色彩深淺之分，人物衣飾有陰陽向背之別，可謂將色彩運用至出神入化之境界。

參看香港頌德堂藏一件清康熙鬥彩筆筒，著錄於《文武傳奇：明清瓷上丹青》，香港，2019年，頁150-151.另見上海博物館藏一件清康熙鬥彩人物筆筒，著錄於《上海博物館藏康熙瓷器圖錄》，上海，1998年，圖181。