A WHITE JADE CARVED 'LOTUS AND MANDARIN DUCKS' BOWL

17th century

Footnotes

十七世紀 白玉「荷塘鴛鴦」圖盌

Provenance:
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 2 May 2000, lot 809

來源：
香港蘇富比，2000年5月2日，拍品編號809

A combination of lotus and mandarin ducks symbolises marital harmony and the design often appears on pieces presented to newlywed couples. Although jade bowls such as the present lot are rare, porcelain bowls in famille verte palette with this motif of ducks and lotus pond are more common. See for example, a famille verte bowl with duck and lotus, Kangxi, in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, vol.8, Tokyo, New York and San Francisco, 1982, pl.59. Another famille verte bowl with duck and lotus, Kangxi, is illustrated by J.Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, no.203.

A related jade bowl of similar form but carved with other flowers and birds, Ming dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade, 7, Beijing, 2011, p.128, no.106.

此盌玉材色白，瑩潤通透。碗口外侈，壁身斜收成圈足，足微外侈，線條柔美規矩。外壁以淺浮雕飾荷塘鴛鴦圖，雄鳥、雌鳥兩兩相對，互相依偎，戲遊於池塘內，一派恬靜悠然之景。荷花、蓮蓬生長茂盛，荷葉更細緻地陰刻了葉脈，彰顯一絲不苟的刀工。

相同題材的玉盌傳世不多見，康熙時期的五彩「荷塘鴛鴦」碗可參考瑞典斯德哥爾摩東亞博物館一例，載於《Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections》，第8冊，東京，1982年，圖版59；另有一例藏於英國維多利亞和艾伯特博物館，見J.Ayers編，《Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum》，倫敦，1980年，圖版203。

此外，一清宮舊藏青玉花鳥紋碗亦資參考，收錄在《故宮博物院藏品大系玉器編-7 明》，北京，2011年，頁128，圖版106。