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A extremely rare qingbai 'boys' meiping, Southern Song dynasty｜南宋　青白釉劃童子花卉紋梅瓶

A extremely rare qingbai 'boys' meiping, Southern Song dynasty 南宋　青白釉劃童子花卉紋梅瓶 the ovoid body rising to a broad round shoulder and short narrow waisted neck with carinated mouth, boldly decorated around the exterior on either side with a pair of freely incised figures of boisterous young boys, interrupted by a luxuriant floral meander of lily and lotus blooms all borne on scrolling stems, all within double-line bands, covered overall in a rich ice-blue glaze pooling to darker tones within the carved recesses and falling short of the unglazed foot revealing the off-white body, Japanese double wood boxes 28.6 cm Seizo Hayashiya,Chugoku no Touji[China's Ceramics],Tokyo, 1955, cat. no. 3. Fujio Koyama ed.,Chinese Ceramics: One hundred selected masterpieces from collections in Japan, England, France and America. Tokyo, 1960, p. 63. Gakuji Hasebe,Ceramic Art of the World - Volume 12 - Sung Dynasty. Tokyo, 1977, cat. no. 166. 林屋晴三，《中國之陶磁》，1955年，編號3 小山富士夫編，《中國名陶百選》，東京，1960年，頁63 長谷部楽爾，《世界陶磁全集》，卷十二：宋，東京，1977年，編號166 Chugoku Meito Hyaku-sen/A Loan Exhibition of One Hundred Selected Masterpieces from Collections in Japan, England, France and America, Takashimaya, Tokyo, 1960, cat. no. 40. Chugoku So Gen Bijutsu ten/Chinese Arts of the Sung and Yuan Periods, Tokyo National Museum,Tokyo, 1961, cat. no. 241. Chugoku Meito Hyaku-sen /A Loan Exhibition of One Hundred Selected Masterpieces, Takashimaya, Osaka, 1961, cat. no. 43. Tokyo Olympic Kinen Kobijutsu Meihin zuroku [Tokyo Olympic Memorial Masterpieces of antiquities], Fugendo, Tokyo, 1964, cat. no. 58. Shinkan kansei kinen tokubetsu tenrankai zuhan mokuroku/Illustrated Catalogues of the Special Exhibition in Memory of the New Building, Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, 1966, cat. no. 269. Chugoku toji ten[Exhibition of Chinese ceramics], Akita Municipal Museum of Art, Akita, 1969, no. 8. 《中国名陶百選展》，髙島屋，東京・1960年，編號40 《中國宋元美術展》，東京國立博物館，東京，1961年，編號241 《中国名陶百選展》，髙島屋，大阪，1961年，編號43 《東京オリンピック記念 古美術名品図録》，不言堂，東京，1964年，编號58 《新館完成記念特別展覧会図版目録》，京都国立博物館，1966年，編號269 《中国陶磁展》，秋田市美術館，1966年，編號8 Outstanding for the deftly carved design of large figures of boys playing amongst scrolling vines, it is rare to findqingbaivases decorated with this scene which more commonly adorned smaller surfaces such as bowls and dishes. The combed lines of the background add structure and variation to the design, allowing the figures to stand out as if in relief. The present vase distinguishes itself with its robust and confidently carved decoration. Qingbai wares ranged from thin and delicate to more stoutly potted forms such as the present example.Produced at a number of kilns in the provinces of Jiangxi, Fujian and Anhui,qingbaiware,also known asyingqing, refers not to the locales where the kilns were located but to their appearance.Qing(green) andbai(white) denote the alluring pale blue-green tones of the brilliant translucent glaze which so effectively complimented the white porcelaneous body beneath. The Southern Song ceramic historian Jiang Qi notes in his treatiseTao ji(Ceramic Records) that white porcelain produced in Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province was so refined and pure that it was known asraoyu(Jade of Rao), the region in which the Jingdezhen kilns were located. With some kiln modification, it is probable that these wares served as the foundation for the blue-and-white porcelain tradition of China from the 14thcentury onward. Although the early potters at Jingdezhen may have modelled their earliestqingbaipieces on Yue ware, by the Five Dynasties and Northern Song periods they often looked to Ding ware for aesthetic inspiration. This inspiration is perhaps evident on the present vase with its swift, confident lines of carving. A similar meiping carved with large boys among lotus scrolls on a combed ground, probably excavated from the ruins of the Hosshō-ji, Kyoto, and now in the Kyoto National Museum, is illustrated in Hasebe Gakuji, ed.,Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12:Sō/Sung Dynasty, Tokyo, 1977, col. pl. 270, and in Hasebe Gakuji and Imai Atsushi,Chūgoku no tōji/Chinese Ceramics, vol. 12:Nihon shutsudo no Chūgoku tōji/Chinese Ceramics Excavated in Japan, Tokyo, 1995, col. pl. 57. Compare also a vase of this type, but carved with boys amongst a denser scrolling vines, from the Hamamatsu Municipal Museum of Art, Hamamatsu, included in the exhibitionSong Ceramics, Tobu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1999, cat. no. 50; and another with cover, decorated with smaller figures of boys, in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated inChinese Ceramics in the West, Tokyo, 1960, pl. 54, and again inSplendour of Chinese Art. Selections from the Collections of T.T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art Worldwide, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 100. See also a baluster vase with a flared foliate mouth, also carved with boys playing among scrolling peonies and camellias, all against a similar combed ground, in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl,Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, pl. 608. A closely related vase, of slightly larger size, was offered at Christie’s New York, 22ndMarch 1999, lot 258. Designs depicting two or three small boys climbing stems of flowers were popular on a variety of objects and media including silver, bronze, textile, jade and various types of ceramics from the late Tang dynasty onwards.Jan Wirgin, inSung Ceramic Designs, Goteborg, 1970, pp 179-184, discusses the origin of the design, suggesting it is an amalgamation and reinterpretation of Indian cave paintings of boys and the Buddhist motif of children representing reborn souls seated on lotus flowers from the Tang dynasty. Wirgin states that the main cause for the marked popularity of boys and flowers as a decorative motif was undoubtedly being its symbolic significance, which refers to the hope for numerous sons and abundance (p. 181). Forqingbaibowls carved with boys amongst scrolling vines, see one from the Kai-Yin Lo collection, included in the exhibitionBright as Silver, White as Snow, Denver Art Museum, Denver, 1998, cat. no. 39; and another published inSekai toji zenshu, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pls 162 and 163. Compare alsoqingbai meipingvases carved in a similar style with scrolling leaves and flowers against a combed background, for example in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustratedibid., pl. 167; and in the Sichuan Provincial Museum, included inZhongguo taoci quanji[The complete works of Chinese ceramics], vol. 8, Shanghai, 1999, pl. 179. 梅瓶滿刻卷草童子紋，靈動活潑。青白瓷飾以此紋者一般以碗盤等較小器物為多，器大如此例者稀。本器底紋劃花疏密有致，變化豐富，刻劃童子更顯立體生動，仿如浮雕。 此例以手刻花紋飾大器，遒勁俐落，青白瓷有薄巧細密者，亦有較厚重堅緻者如此瓶。青白瓷非以其產地得名，而是因其青白相映、瑩潤恬靜的色澤著稱，胎質細膩潔白，又稱為「影青」、「映青」，出於贛閩皖三省，南宋蔣祈所著《陶記》中描述江西景德鎮所製佳瓷如美玉，「景德陶昔三百餘座。埏埴之器，潔白不疵，故鬻於他所，皆有饒玉之稱」。青白瓷後經改良可能成為青花瓷之濫觴，早期景德鎮陶匠或以越窰為發端，時至五代北宋，則轉取法定窰之美，本器劃花飽滿流暢，或可為證。 一件相近梅瓶作例，刻纏枝蓮花童子紋圖，應出土自京都法勝寺遺跡，現藏於日本京都國立博物館，圖錄於長谷部樂爾等編，《世界陶磁全集》，卷12，宋，東京，1977年，彩色圖版270，以及長谷部樂爾及今井敦, 《中國之陶磁》，卷12：日本出土之中國陶磁，東京，1995年，彩色圖版57。比較另一瓶例，同刻童子紋，唯卷草紋更為細密，藏於濱松市美術館，並曾展於《宋磁》，東武美術館, 東京，1999年，編號50；另有一連蓋瓶例，飾較小童子紋飾，芝加哥美術館藏，圖見《歐美蒐藏中国陶磁図録》，東京，1960年，圖版54，後再圖錄於《海內外徐展堂中國藝術館藏品選萃》，1996年，圖版100。此外尚可參照一瓶例，刻嬰戲牡丹紋葉，出自玫茵堂典藏，圖錄於康蕊君，《玫茵堂中國陶瓷》，卷1，倫敦，1994年，圖版608。另一相近瓶例，器形略大，售於紐約佳士得1999年3月22日，編號258。 三兩小兒攀爬於花叢之紋飾，流行自唐代晚期以降，多見於銀、銅、織品、玉器及瓷器。據 Jan Wirgin 述，其源應詮釋重組自印度洞窟壁畫，以及唐代佛教紋飾主題，以嬰孩坐蓮代表靈魂輪迴重生，見《Sung Ceramic Designs》，哥德堡，1970年，頁179-184。作者論述，嬰孩花卉紋飾之流行，主要源於其多子多福之美好寓意（頁181）。 此卷草童子紋青白盌，參考出自羅啟妍典藏作例，曾展於《如銀似雪》，丹佛美術館，丹佛，1998年，編號39；另一近例，錄於《世界陶磁全集》，卷12，東京，1977年，圖版162及163。亦可參考青白梅瓶數例，刻類近卷草花卉紋飾，其一為芝加哥美術館館藏，出處同上，圖版167；其二為四川省博物館館藏，見《中國陶瓷全集》，卷8，宋（下），1999年，圖版179。

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