AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND LARGE IMPERIAL UNDERGLAZE-BLUE AND IRON-RED ENAMEL 'NINE DRAGON' DISH

Qianlong seal mark and of the period

Footnotes

清乾隆 青花礬紅水波雲龍紋折沿大盤
青花「大清乾隆年製」篆書款

Provenance:
Sir David Newbigging, purchased in China in 1960, and brought from Hong Kong to the United Kingdom in Spring 1984
Bonhams London, 8 November 2018, lot 153
A distinguished English private collection

來源：
David Newbigging爵士收藏；約於1960年赴華期間購藏，並於1984年春由香港帶赴英國
倫敦邦瀚斯，2018年11月8日，拍品153
英國重要私人珍藏

The present lot encapsulates the exacting and refined taste of the Qianlong emperor, together with the high skill and artistry of the artisans, as well as the innovation and imagination of the Imperial kiln supervisors such as Tang Ying (1682-1756) (in charge of the Imperial porcelain manufactory in Jingdezhen). With bold and powerful dragons leaping through breaking waves and wispy clouds, the trio of emperor, artisan and official ensured that this impressive large dish would exude Imperial splendour, power and refinement at Imperial banquets or special Imperial celebratory occasions.

Only a handful of Qianlong 'mark and period' examples of dishes of this impressive size and bold decoration are known to exist in either public like the two Palace Museums and the MOA Museum of Art in Atami, Japan, or private collections. See an example in the Nanjing Museum, illustrated in Treasures in the Royalty: The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, p.275; and a dish of the same diameter, with a Qianlong mark, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Shanghai Museum Collections Research Series of: Qing Yongzheng - Xuantong porcelain kiln, Shanghai, 2014, pl.3-5; see also the comparable dish decorated with iron-red dragons on an underglaze-blue ground, Qianlong seal mark and of the period, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl.956; and a further example in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, exhibited in Seikado zo Shincho toji. Keitokuchin kanyo no bi [Qing porcelain collected in the Seikado. Beauty of the Jingdezhen imperial kilns] and illustrated in Seikado Bunko Art Museum, Tokyo, 2006, no.53.

According to the Qinggong neiwufu zaobanchu dang'an zonghui (General collection of archival records from the Qing Imperial Household department workshop), on the 25th day in the sixth month of the third year of the Qianlong period (corresponding to 1738), a Xuanyao hong long qing yun haishui dapan ('large Xuande-kiln dish with red dragons amongst blue clouds and waves') was presented to the emperor together with other porcelains. For large vessels in this group, drawings were ordered to be produced and sent, together with the smaller vessels, to Tang Ying, the well-known supervisor of the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory in Jingdezhen; see Zhang Faying, ed., Tang Ying du tao wendang, Beijing, 2012, pp.148-152. This entry is likely to refer to a Xuande-style dish, possibly produced in the Qing dynasty, rather than a Ming original. Terms such as Xuanyao or Jiayao ('Jiajing-kiln') were often used in Qing Court record to classify antique-inspired objects. Moreover, there are no known Xuande examples of matching decoration. According to the record, whether the dish mentioned in the record was a prototype or an imitation, due to its large size, a drawing of it had to be sent to Jingdezhen instead. The close resemblance in size, form and decoration between the Yongzheng and Qianlong dishes strongly suggests that such a drawing was likely to have been based on a Yongzheng interpretation of the Ming original.

Dishes of this design first began to appear during the Yongzheng period, inspired by an early Ming dynasty pattern. See for example, a blue and white dish, Xuande mark and period, painted with a side-facing five-clawed dragon in the centre among crashing waves, illustrated in Xuande Imperial Kiln Excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1998, no.87. The Yongzheng emperor applied himself to harnessing the artistic and material resources of his revamped workshop system to forge a new Imperial style bearing his personal imprint. No object could be made and released without his approval, often at every step of the design-make process. Indeed, he was known to have sent antiques from the palace to Jingdezhen both in order to set potting standards and to serve as a model and inspiration for designs.

Given the Yongzheng emperor's attention to detail, the craftsmen responded to the emperor's requests with creative ingenuity. This is evident from the use of space on the dish exhibiting the successful transfer of a pattern originally made for much smaller vessels. The different design elements of the dish are composed so as to avoid any sense of overcrowding or awkward spaces or gaps that would affect the overall harmony. The side-facing dragon of the Ming era has been replaced with a front-facing dragon and the crashing waves no longer cover part of the dragon's body, with the effect of giving a greater sense of the creature's dominance and strength. The use of iron-red heightens the contrast between the dynamism of the background and that of the dragons, while bestowing on the scene a stronger sense of auspiciousness. The addition of a band of crashing waves encircling the rim of the dish further attests to the skill and design of the craftsmen and kiln supervisors who recognised the need for a large dish to have a band to frame and bring together the expansive design, an element not necessary for the smaller Ming dishes. See a similar blue and white plate with red dragon, Yongzheng mark and of the period, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglazed Red, vol.3, Hong Kong, 2000, pl.223. See also an example in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Shanghai Museum Collections Research Series of: Qing Yongzheng - Xuantong porcelain kiln, Shanghai, 2014, pl.3-23. Another example is illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.4, London, 2010, no.1723. Another similar underglaze-blue and iron-red enamel 'dragon' dish, Yongzheng mark and period, is in the Umezawa Gallery, Japan, illustrated in Mayuyama: Seventy Years, vol.1, Tokyo, 1976, p.352, no.1055.

Dishes of this type continued to be made into the Qianlong emperor's reign. At first glance, they appear to be almost identical to the Yongzheng period ones, but on closer examination, there are some differences. In comparison to the Yongzheng decoration, the Qianlong rendering emphasises orderliness and precision, as evidenced in the uniformity of the clouds and waves. Moreover, the four dragons on the rim placed on the axis of the central dragon on the Yongzheng dish have been shifted 45 degrees anti-clockwise.

此拍品為乾隆官窯的代表性器物，盤折沿，淺弧壁，裏外壁青花繪祥雲、内底礬紅繪一正面五爪海水龍升於藍地白花海水上、内、外壁分別繪四條形態各異，或回首，或前行三爪行龍以組成「九龍圖」，龍爪有三爪、五爪之別，龍尾有花尾、尖尾之別。明、清官窯瓷上，龍紋的正規式樣為五爪，尖尾狀，取奔騰向前的姿態。此盤所繪龍紋，筆畫嚴謹，其紋飾也有變化，裏口沿飾海水紋，圈足，盤底所罩白釉有小橘皮紋，底青花書「大清乾隆年製」篆書款。

大盤器形規整，正面巨龍，躍現盤心，欲奪火珠，色取礬紅，泳於鈷青海水波濤，活靈活現。九龍圖案雄偉，氣勢恢弘，展現了江西景德鎮御窯厰在唐英等督陶官的管理下，兼顧完善生產技術及裝飾仿古創新，達到在陶瓷史上的又一高峰之景。類似器物常用於宮廷御宴陳設、皇室慶典或祭祀儀式，只見於雍正、乾隆兩朝官窯。傳世完整器不多，主要收藏在兩岸故宮博物院及日本東京梅澤紀念館等國内外少數幾家大型機構内，可參考南京博物館一件大小接近的乾隆款青花海水紅彩雲龍紋盤，錄於《宮廷珍藏中國清代官窯瓷器》，南京，2003年，頁275; 亦有一例直徑相同的藏於上海博物館，見《上海博物館藏品研究大系：清代雍正一宣統官窯瓷器》，上海，2014，圖版3-5號；另有一例藏於日本出光美術館，載於《中国陶磁 : 出光美術館蔵品図錄》, 東京, 1987年, 圖版956號；日本靜嘉堂文庫美術館藏一例亦資參考，曾於2006年9月30日至11月26日期間在《靜嘉堂藏清朝陶磁：景德鎮官窯の美》展覽展出，見《日本靜嘉堂文庫美術館》，東京，2006年，圖版53號。

輯自《清宮内務府造辦處檔案總匯》，載於張發穎編的《唐英督陶文檔》（北京，2009年，頁148）：於乾隆三年（1738）六月二十五日條下記，一件宣窯紅龍青雲海水大盤被呈現於乾隆帝眼前，這批器物是根據降旨交辦的「内廷恭造式樣」圖樣來造，而「宣窯」和「嘉窯」等詞在清檔中也泛指摹古的器物，推論這裏指的不是宣德款的紅龍青雲海水大盤，而是一件帶有宣德朝風格的清朝燒造器。從兩朝同款大盤的相似程度來看，想必一張根據雍正款設計的圖樣先被發到唐英手上，再而一件帶有參考雍正改造及宣德紋飾風格的乾隆款青花礬紅水波雲龍紋折沿大盤被「再創造」出來。同款的雍正及乾隆朝大盤乍看似乎大小、形制、紋樣完全一樣，細看卻能發現乾隆款盤上的雲龍紋更加規整，内壁四條行龍的位置也較雍正款的逆時針旋轉四十五度。

器形較大的折沿盤如本拍品上的設計最初出現在清雍正年間，以摹古的趣味從明朝的瓷器中汲取靈感，參考一件直徑較小的宣德款青花鬧潮龍紋窩盤中繪有五爪側面龍，見《景德鎮出土明宣德官窯瓷器》，臺北，1998年，圖版87號。雍正帝對瓷器生產設計常常事無大小皆親自審閱，他亦會下交文物給督陶官，命其照樣畫樣，而後經過與造辦處「呈核再做」相近的程序。令御窯厰的出品很大程度糅合了其個人審美，如追求正統傳承，典雅細緻以及受東洋日本及西洋歐洲影響等充分地反映出皇帝的藝術品位。工匠沒有把宣德朝體型較小盤子上的設計直接搬到大盤上，由此拍品可見兩朝出品紋樣、用色上的變化：如五爪側面龍被正面龍代替，龍身亦沒有和海水紋重叠，礬紅的使用加上精細描繪的龍紋更加强了象徵皇權器物的印象，整體和諧有致，匠心獨運。博物館藏的例子有一清宮舊藏雍正款青花紅彩雲龍紋盤，見《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集：青花釉裏紅，下》，香港，2000年，圖版223號；上海博物館另藏一件可資比較，《上海博物館藏品研究大系：清代雍正一宣統官窯瓷器》，上海，2014年，圖版3-23號。另參看康蕊君所編,《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，倫敦，2010年，卷4，編號1723；日本Umezawa Gallery舊藏一例雍正款青花紅彩雲龍紋盤，錄於《龍泉集芳：創業七十周年記念》，繭山龍泉堂，東京，1976年，卷1，圖版1055號。