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清乾隆　青花「穿花游龍」圖長頸膽瓶 PROVENANCE 1. Collection of Mrs Christian Holmes (1871-1941) 2. William H. Wolff, Inc., New York, January 1966 3. Collection of Mr. William B. Jaffe, New York 4. Collection of Evelyn Annenberg-Hall (1911-2005) 5. Christie's New York, 29 March 2006, lot 169 (cover lot) 6. Sotheby's Hong Kong, 8 April 2011, lot 3106 7. Sotheby's Hong Kong, 5 April 2017, lot 3618 The vase is well potted in elongated pear shape sweeping up to a slender neck. Its exterior is exquisitely painted in vivid cobalt blue with five sinuous five-clawed dragons striding in various positions around the vase amidst a dense lotus ground. All patterns are set between a band of waves and pendent ruyi heads encircling the mouth and waves and classic scroll skirting the foot. The base is inscribed with a six-character reign mark in underglaze blue. The dragon is an important motif in Chinese culture because it represents the Emperor and thus is the symbol of imperial power. The present vase is applied with brilliant deep blue cobalt which replicates the ‘heaping and piling’ effect of early Ming underglaze-blue designs and reflects the high level of technical achievement attained by the craftsman in Jingdezhen. This extraordinary vase is outstanding for its large size and represents the Qianlong Emperor’s taste for antiquity, presenting with an ovoid body gently rising to a tall slender neck and showing dragons soaring through a dense network of lotus scrolls. Such design of dragons amongst floral scrolls originates in 15th century blue and white wares and was then revived under the preceding Yongzheng Emperor. Since that, such motif was widely produced throughout the Qing dynasty. Large dragons depicted amongst lotus scrolls are found on Yongle globular vases, tianqiuping. By the Zhengde reign, the dragons became smaller in size and were surrounded by a tighter ground of flower scrolls in a style more closely related to the present decoration, with this motif decorating a range of wares including vases, dishes and bowls. Compare a Yongle tianqiuping sold in Sotheby’s London, 1st/2nd April 1974, lot 187; and a Zhengde zhadou, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London 1994, vol. 2, pl. 686, and sold in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7th April 2011, lot 60. Pear-shaped bottle vase was more commonly found on monochromes; for example see lot 3220 in the current sale of our room; another large Qianlong flambé-glazed vase in the Nanjing Museum, included in Zhongguo Qingdai guanyao ciqi (Chinese imperial porcelains from the Qing dynasty), Shanghai, 2003, p. 345; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Official Kiln Porcelain of the Chinese Qing Dynasty, Shanghai, 2003, pl. 345. Then the craftsman of Qing Dynasty innovatively applied blue cobalt on the current vase with elongated tall neck and pear-shaped body. This piece belongs to a special group of vases produced during the Qianlong period. Examples can be found in important museums and collections worldwide and each vase within the group appears to be uniquely decorated; for example see one painted with figures in a landscape, from the Qing court collection and still in Beijing, illustrated published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red (III), Hong Kong, 2000, pl. 119. This exquisite dragon vase is extremely rare for its slender form decorated with a striking deep blue design of five dragons among a lotus flower scroll. No other closely related example appears to have been published, although a vase of this shape, similarly decorated with a broad band of underglaze-red dragons amongst a cobalt-blue floral ground between ruyi and lappet borders and stiff leaves around the neck, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated ibid., pl. 209. Compare also a smaller but very similarly decorated bottle vase of Yongzheng period rendered with four dragons against a composite flower scroll, sold in Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 7th April 2015, lot 108. 「大清乾隆年製」 來源 1. Christian Holmes 夫人（1871-1941年）收藏 2. William H. Wolff, Inc.，紐約，1966年1月 3. Mr. William B. Jaffe 收藏，紐約 4. Evelyn Annenberg-Hall （1911-2005年）收藏，紐約 5. 紐約佳士得，2006年3月29日，Evelyn Annenberg-Hall 專場，編號169（封面） 6. 香港蘇富比，2011年4月8日，編號3106 7. 香港蘇富比，2017年4月5日，編號3618 龍紋長頸膽瓶，小口長頸，瓶腹飽滿，腹垂如膽。整器繪青花五爪飛龍，姿態各異，氣勢萬千，穿梭折枝繁花之中，枝葉翻轉靈動，花朵各具風貌。穿花游龍，圖案雄偉，氣勢恢弘，彷彿宣告海內之地，帝德無遠弗屆。此盤尺寸碩大，繪飾宏壯，為清朝瓷匠精工巧藝之佐證，炫耀盛世輝煌。此膽瓶器形碩大無比，將乾隆帝的思古之情，華麗雄渾之品味，納於一身。游龍穿花，躍於瓷上，源於十五世紀青花瓷，雍正一朝始見復作，至乾隆時期加以精製。龍紋乃中國瓷器及工藝品最重要之紋飾，象徵帝王及皇權，此瓶鈷藍發色濃豔，紋飾強而有力，以堆疊法畫製，仿傚早明青花瓷深濃帶黑斑效果，反映出當時瓷匠的高超技術。 穿蓮龍紋可見於明永樂朝天球瓶，此時龍紋較大，至正德朝，龍紋略小，與本品之飾相近，纏枝花地則更為密緻，作於各式器形，包括瓷瓶、盤、盌等，紋飾近類此瓶。長頸膽瓶，多施單色釉，但清代匠人取其器形，卻繪穿花龍紋，展時代之風。雍正、乾隆年間，內廷常遣送清宮所藏古董瓷珍至景德鎮以資效仿，模古制、仿其飾，而穿花龍紋淵源可溯，源起於盤徑較小的明初宣德青花盤，可參考台北故宮藏宣德盤，繪以三龍，皆採側面行龍之態，傲翔牡丹之間，圖載於《故宮藏瓷大系宣德之部（上）》，台北，2000年，圖版2 ；此紋飾繼而延續至明中期，見明正德朝一例，出自香港蘇富比，2012年10月9日，編號19。雍正一朝慕古集大成，游龍穿花紋在盤、瓶等器成熟燒制，慕古創新，紋飾更加華麗繁瑣，青花色澤獨成一系。至乾隆早期，此技仍可持續，偶見有保持雍正青花水平者，本品即是一例。 此龍紋長頸膽瓶，紋飾濃麗，五龍遊戲纏枝卷花間，龍身矯健，騰飛花間，佈局恰到好處，諧和協調，極為珍稀，未見他例有錄。一件相同造型瓶例，繪釉裏紅龍紋，青花花卉紋地，綴如意蓮瓣紋，頸繪蕉葉紋，現藏北京故宮博物院，錄於《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集．青花釉裏紅（下）》，香港，2000年，圖版209。除此罕見與之同類者，此件乾隆青花游龍穿花長頸膽瓶慕古出新，紋飾穿插更加自然流暢；青花發色濃艷，渾厚、沈著、清晰明快；釉面堅致肥腴，勻淨光潤；造型規整，繪工秀美，清逸脫俗，不輸雍正一朝同類者。目前可見雍正原型者，清雍正青花穿花龍紋長頸膽瓶器型稍小，以7580萬港元售於香港蘇富比2015年4月7日，編號108。亦見一例相近者，以淡描海水代替折枝蓮花，清雍正青花海水雲龍紋膽瓶，以？？萬人民幣售於北京保利十五週年慶典拍賣，編號5042。 膽瓶由於造型典雅優美，給人超煩脫俗的無限情趣，為歷代朝野各界所追捧。膽瓶造型臻於宋代，盛於後世，因其典雅優美的造型，予人以超凡脫俗之情趣，乃古代瓷器典雅之代表。明末《瓶花譜》記曰：「瓷器以各式古壺、膽瓶、尊、觚、一枝瓶為書室中妙品」。膽瓶尤適合供單枝長莖花草，常被用作花器。乾隆皇帝向來好古成癖，追求文人之雅，亦喜好宋明之花道，故對膽瓶頗是欣賞，曾賦詩詠之：「膽瓶、紙槌瓶皆瓶式之最佳者」。於清宮舊藏《弘歷古裝像圖》之中，乾隆皇帝執筆坐於案前，左側矮幾置一膽瓶，橫倚梅花一二枝，尤可觀帝王之雅趣。乾隆二年《造辦處活計文件》記載：「五月十一日，首領吳書來說太監胡世傑傳旨，著做瓶樣畫些呈覽，準時交予唐英，……於本月三十日，畫得膽瓶紙樣一張……小膽瓶紙樣一張……交太監胡世傑，高玉呈覽。」可見乾隆皇帝常命御窯廠製作膽瓶，更依其中意的紋飾與色釉燒製，故呈現出今日各色各式的乾隆膽瓶御器。 考之膽瓶尺寸，可分大小二類，本品即屬器形較大者。兩岸故宮典藏數例膽瓶中，可見如乾隆鈞紅釉膽瓶、乾隆青花釉里紅穿花龍紋膽瓶等，與本品之形制、尺寸相類，可茲對比。縱觀傳世的清代膽式瓶，以單色釉為最多，青花色者尚並不多見，而如本品造作如此精雅者，更是舉世難尋，當值珍藏。