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明萬曆 青花嬰戲圖八方蓋罐 PROVENANCE 1. Mayuyama Ryusendo, Tokyo 2. Christie's Hong Kong, 29 April 2002, lot 611 3. Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 October 2011, lot 2047 EXHIBITED Chuugoku touji meiho ten shiriizu, The Gotoh Museum, Tokyo, 1966 LITERATURE Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 1, no. 958 The box is superbly painted in characteristic bright purplish-blue, alternating on the eight sides with two scenes of boys at play in balustraded gardens, the flattened cover of corresponding octagonal shape, similarly decorated with figures in a garden, and surmounted by a squirrel shaped finial, all covered with a clear glaze of soft bluish tone. The base is inscribed with and six-character reign mark in underglaze blue within a double circle. No other box and cover with this combination of form and pattern appears to have been published, although there are several examples of Wanli-marked vessels painted with the same decorative theme. Cf. the Wanli-marked blue and white dish in the Percival David Foundation featuring boys playing in a garden, included in the joint exhibition Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period, the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum, 1994, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 55. The shape of the present covered box is also very unusual and the most closely related Wanli-marked comparisons are decorated in the wucai palette: the first, a box and cover designed with ascending and descending dragons, sold in Christie's London, 12 December 1977, lot 153; and the other with floral sprays, sold in Christie's Hong Kong, 20 March 1990, lot 547. 款識：「大明萬曆年製」 來源 1. 繭山龍泉堂，東京 2. 香港佳士得，2002年4月29日，編號611 3. 香港蘇富比，2011年10月5日，編號2047 展覽 《Chuugoku touji meiho ten shiriizu》，五島美術館，東京，1966年 出版 《龍泉集芳第一集》，繭山龍泉堂，東京，1976年，編號958 此類蓋罐可作棋盒或促織之戲。蓋面青花飾三子嬉戲圖，四周點綴古松怪石祥花瑞草，蓋沿飾纏枝靈芝花卉紋，蓋面置松鼠形蓋鈕。外壁繪山水園林奇石景致，重覆兩組嬰戲圖，蓋罐合繪三十五童子於庭園中嬉戲，圈足畫青花雙線一周。青花濃豔暈散，深處見黑色結晶斑，白釉微泛青色，凝潤細緻。器底青花雙圈內書「大明萬曆年製」。 萬曆一朝，皇帝怠政，但Charles O.Hucker仍指該朝乃剛勁、創新、蓬勃、探索的年代(見L.Carrington Goodrich及房兆楹，《Dictionary of Ming Biography 1368-1644》，紐約及倫敦，1976年，頁325)。此品巧作八方之形，器形規整，繪圖流暢，鈷料發色濃豔，與明初風格迥然不同，盡展萬曆時期景德鎮瓷風。明代王世懋著《窺天外乘》記：「蓋窯器圓者，旋之立就，倏忽若神。獨方物即至小，亦須手撚而成，最難完整，供御大率十不能一二，餘皆置之無用。」由此可知方器成型之難，今蓋、罐得以保存，甚為難得。 此品巧作八方之形，器形規整，繪圖流暢，鈷料發色濃豔，凝潤細緻。與明初風格迥然不同，盡展萬曆時期景德鎮瓷風。青花色澤濃豔，奔放明麗，極具萬曆風骨。全器共繪三十五子嬉戲於庭園，百子圖寓意多福多壽、多子多孫、子孫昌盛、萬代延續，為明代時期宮廷藝術品的重要題材。惟蓋罐者施以嬰戲題材，存世或僅見本例。本品原為東京繭山龍泉堂雅蓄，並曾展覽於東京五島美術館，極為難得。