A rare blue and white pouring bowl


Yuan DynastyOf shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly concave base, set to one side with a small spout of square section applied underneath with a small scroll loop, painted in underglaze-blue to the interior with flowerheads among foliate scrolls encircled by a double line border and a band of classic scroll at the well, the exterior with lotus petal panels and scrolls to the spout, the rim unglazed, the base with a thin coating of translucent glaze. 16.2cm (6 3/8in) long.
|元 青花番蓮紋匜Provenance:Sotheby's New York, 4 December 1984, lot 320Muwen Tang Collection, Hong KongSotheby's London, 12 November 2003, lot 88Sotheby's Hong Kong, 12 May 2010, lot 1890A distinguished Asian private collectionExhibited, Published and Illustrated:Hong Kong Museum of Art, Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong, 22 July - 11 September 1994, no.205來源：紐約蘇富比，1984年12月4日，拍品320香港沐文堂收藏倫敦蘇富比，2003年11月12日，拍品88香港蘇富比，2010年5月12日，拍品1890重要亞洲私人收藏展覽、出版及著錄：香港藝術館，《關氏收藏宋代陶瓷》，香港，1994年7月22日至9月11日，編號205Pouring vessels of this type, known as yi (匜), were mentioned in Eastern Zhou period literature such as the Zuo zhuan, or the 'Commentary of Zuo', as important vessels of daily life. During the Yuan dynasty, yi vessels were produced in silver and other metals as well as in Longquan celadon and monochrome white and blue and white porcelain. A wall painting in the tomb of Zhang Andabuhua and his wife, dated 1269, shows the high-ranking couple dressed in Mongolian garb and flanked by tables laid with wine utensils and flower vases, among them a white yuhuchun bottle and a matching pouring vessel yi, see The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p.83, fig.115.Compare with a related blue and white spouted bowl, Yuan dynasty, 14th century, of similar shape but painted with lotus scrolls, illustrated by the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong in Jingdezhen Wares: The Yuan Evolution, Hong Kong, 1984, p.64, no.100. See also a related blue and white spouted bowl, Yuan dynasty, in the Lintao County Museum, which was excavated in Shuangshang She, Siwa Village, Yaxia Township, Lintao County, Gansu Province, illustrated in Splendors in Smalt: Art of Yuan Blue-and-white Porcelain, Shanghai, 2012, pp. 148-149, no.42直口、圓腹、平底、方流與腹相通，流下有一圓形小繫。胎質白細，釉面瑩亮。通體以青花裝飾，匜內底繪纏枝番蓮紋，內壁繪卷雲紋一周。外壁飾「八大碼」蓮瓣紋，筆觸細膩，青花發色艷麗，器底施薄釉。匜為水器，先秦時有「奉匜沃盥」之說。至元代，匜復而盛行，且用法多樣，除用作水器外，亦可用作酒器，如元代浦城墓葬壁畫所示，匜在元代可與玉壺春瓶及盤盞等一起使用，見《The World of Khubilai Khan. Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty》，大都會藝術博物館，紐約，2010年，頁83，圖115。與本品類似之元代青花番蓮紋匜，可見香港東方陶瓷學會著，《Jingdezhen Wares: The Yuan Evolution》，香港，1984年，頁64，編號100。另見甘肅省臨洮縣寺瓦村出土一件元代青花雙鳳紋匜，現藏臨洮縣博物館，著錄於《幽藍神采：元代青花瓷器特集》，上海，2012年，頁148-149，編號42。