During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the imperial kiln shined brightly. During the Ming Xuande period, Emperor Ming Xuanzong Zhu Zhanji was one of the few Confucian monarchs in history who was good at literature and art and dedicated to benevolent government, who ruled for ten years, and his imperial porcelain was a masterpiece, his character was outstanding, his glaze color was extensive, and the decoration was changeable. Among these many excellent products, there is a bowl, which is called the king of xuande bowls. I wonder if you have heard of this "King of Xuande Bowl"?
Xiaobian will take you to see it today.
Let's start with an auction
In April 2017, Sotheby's Hong Kong set up a separate special bowl for a Ming Xuande mackerel pattern ten-edged diamond mouth bowl, which was finally sold for about HK$229 million, equivalent to more than half a ton of gold at present.
This high price is close to today's blue and white porcelain price record holder - in 2005 Christie's 230 million yuan auction of yuan blue and white "ghost valley down the mountain" large jar.
This bowl is about 23 cm in diameter, it is a ten-sided diamond bowl, which is extremely difficult to cook, so it is also known as the "King of Xuande Bowl" in the industry.
Sotheby's official website is quite poetic about the introduction of the lot: "The royal kiln is a big cup, the peak of cultivation, the magic of ten petals, like a lotus leaf half blooming, held in the palm, just soft in the middle, caressed like fat, love to let go." The outer wall is undulating and stretching, and the god paints the swimming fish with four tails, two and two opposites, swimming between the algae pond lotus, sending the virtue of innocence and incorruptibility. White porcelain for paper, green material for ink, magic pen swing, clear and smooth lines, lifelike, dense and appropriate, Xuande heavy instrument, heirloom product, unique, rare. ”
This Ming Xuande blue-and-white fish algae pattern ten-edged diamond mouth large bowl, for luxury mouth, deep wall, short circle foot. The blue and white hair color is rich and colorful, with black brown crystal spots, the glaze is full of large and small bubbles, the fetal bone is firm and delicate, and the whole body is ten edges. The outer wall is painted with lotus pond algae, swimming fish with four tails, bowl heart blue and white double circle painted lotus, algae and swimming fish two tails, the mouth along the inside and outside of each decorated with green lines, circle foot three, the bottom blue and white double circle inside the book "Daming Xuande Year System" six-character double line letter model. Soft light and gentle, muscular marrow, people can't help but fall in love.
The "King of Xuande Bowl" in the Imperial Kiln is from the Ming and Qing Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Factory, but it is an outlier among them. We all know that in the past in the Ming and Qing Dynasties Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Factory, the official porcelain ornaments painted by professional painters were exquisitely brushed and flowered, but they were limited by palace regulations, and they were more common for dragon patterns, phoenix patterns, or other symbols of imperial power, and the format was restrained and solemn, and there was less penmanship. There is a unique minority, with the theme of new porcelain ornamentation, which means festive and is not limited by the standard, and is used for informal occasions.
The Ming Xuande blue and white fish algae pattern ten ridges Lingkou large bowl belongs to this kind of new porcelain decorative school, on top of this type of work, the painter seems to be able to exert his skillful brushwork and painting skills to the fullest, creating a unique charm, flexible and charming style of imperial porcelain, this fish algae pattern bowl is of this kind. Compared with other natural subjects, the fish algae pattern requires the painter to keenly sketch and observe, and the teacher method is natural, in order to reproduce the posture of the fish grass in the water with skillful techniques.
The bowl is painted with four tails of abundant fish, swimming between the algae pond lotus, leisurely and self-reliant, into the fine appreciation, as if in it, you can feel its peace, know its happiness. Four fish are facing each other, one side paints carp, the other side paints mandarin fish, each welcoming a bream, the variety is slightly different. As depicted on the bowl, the bream has many bulging sarcomas on its head when it becomes an adult. These fish species have been eaten in Chinese soup since ancient times, carp and mandarin fish are more common in porcelain ornamentation, but it is rare to paint bream. Imagining it out of thin air can capture the essence of the god in the basket and paint it to swim with its own pleasure, which is rare and precious.
Fish algae pattern is a common Chinese porcelain ornament, and the combination with the lotus pond contains the auspicious meaning of "more than one year in a row", reflecting the unique auspicious culture. According to historical records, in the last years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the court painter Liu Yu was good at painting fish, and ink works with fish as the theme began to become popular, which in turn affected porcelain painting. Fish live in the water, it is not convenient to look closely, so it is more difficult to draw fish than other birds.
Why is this bowl king? Xuande dynasty, porcelain famous products are numerous, this Ming Xuande blue and white fish algae pattern ten ridges diamond mouth bowl why can be crowned king? Only because of its pattern, painting, shape, and size, the world is incapable of comparing it, the Xuande bowl with the same fish algae pattern painted throughout the world, only two examples in the collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei can be compared, but the size is smaller. Although the fish algae pattern is a common Chinese porcelain ornament, but such a large bowl with a ten-edged flower mouth, between the ups and downs, as if the water shines, adding painting swimming fish to life, it is really a divine product.
Many collectors often feel that Ming Dynasty Yongle and Xuande porcelain always gave birth to an unbelievably high price, and there seems to be no price system support. In fact, this collection trading system should be the most mature in the domestic market. In the eyes of collectors, plates and bowls are not particularly advanced compared to tall cups, bottles and other vertical pieces. But this Ming Xuande blue and white fish algae pattern ten ridges diamond mouth large bowl, regardless of craft modeling, hair color ornaments are a rare Xuande boutique in the current market.
The decoration of the ten edges is very difficult to make. The painting method used in Tongjing had a profound influence on the decoration of blue and white porcelain in later generations. In addition, the fish pattern painted with the best Su Ma Li green material is rich in color, covered under the thick and lustrous glaze layer, coupled with the smooth ink effect formed by the bluish blend, it seems that there are fish really swimming in the water, which just reflects the beauty of this bowl. In terms of artistic achievement, this bowl is also incomparable. Therefore, it is not too much for Ming Xuande to claim the king of the ten ridges of the blue and white fish algae pattern.
Perfect appearance and packaging The success of the "King of Xuande Bowl" lies in its excellent scarcity. Moreover, unlike the collection of paintings, furniture and other subjects, the porcelain collection is quite demanding for the appearance, according to the connoisseur's hands-on physical confirmation, this Ming Xuande blue and white fish algae pattern ten ridges Lingkou large bowl is almost intact. This is also the key to causing buyers to be bold in the bidding process. In recent years, there have been many works of art that have reached the same level in the market, but there are only a few that can really be remembered.
In addition to the porcelain itself, a few months before the auction, Sotheby's invited some important collectors to see the bowl. As soon as everyone got started, they felt that the bowl was good, and everything after that happened naturally: everyone enthusiastically sent WeChat, Weibo, auction houses, various media competed to spread, recommend, historical excavation, horizontal and vertical comparisons and various sky-high price predictions. Therefore, before the preview, even before the catalogue came out, the "King of Xuande Bowl" had been rendered into a star lot.
Ma Weidu once commented on this ming xuande blue and white fish algae pattern ten ridges diamond mouth bowl worth 200 million, this bowl, it is not round, sold more than two hundred million! This bowl is expensive! It's a diamond bowl, so it's not round. This bowl is a big bowl for your family to eat. In past artifacts, this counts as medium. The large bowls in the artifacts can be so large that you can go in for a bath. How is the bowl of this Xuande year so valuable? It is because it is less and more famous.
After reading it, do you think that more than 200 million Hong Kong dollars are worth spending?
(The article originates from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author)