A Longquan kiln ware seat returning from Japan, with a caliber of about 23 centimeters, the glaze water is emerald green and thick, pure and flawless, and the quality is good. What is even more amazing is that the vessel contains a seal inscription of the collector's drop.
This kind of Longquan kiln hollowing out seat is also called "fish wear", which is mostly burned by Yuan Ming. I have a lot of impressions of Japan, I remember once bought one in Japan, equipped with an inner bladder, iron gall, the charcoal ash inside is still there, it is estimated that the Japanese took the tea ceremony as a boiling stove to use.
Last year, when I was sorting out the materials of the Longquan Celadon in the Tokyo National Museum in Japan, I also noticed that one of the large and one small two cases of the ware seat (The | Selected Ryūsen Celadon from the Tokyo National Museum, Japan (Part 2). Small Yuan Dynasty, only 7.8 high, caliber 6.8 cm, the name "Feiqing magnetic night study cover", "cover place" is to place teapot lid and other places, "night study" two words are said to be passed down from China, the Japanese believe that this kind of small instrument seat is the ancient Chinese scholars to pick the lamp night to read and put the lampstand seat. In fact, this kind of small size Yuan Dynasty small instrument holder is generally used to place the adapted small bottle.
Collections of the Tokyo National Museum, Japan
With a seat carved flower small ji character vase Longquan City Museum collection
Small plum vase with seat in the collection of the Chuzhou Celadon Museum
Sotheby's New York Spring Auction 2008 (LOT:0102)
This brown-spotted small Jizi bottle, the height of the instrument seat is only 7.3 cm, and the catalogue is marked as yuan, which the author tends to be Ming. Compared with the above small device seats, the size is close, and the shape is more regular. Also available for reference is the same collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing (see figure below).
The large size of this piece is marked by the Ming Dynasty, named "Blue Magnetic Flower Pot Table", 16.3 meters high, 23.4 cm in diameter, from the name point of view, it is used as the bottom of the pot.
This type of larger vessel seat is also found in porcelain pieces excavated from the site of the Longquan Guanyao kiln in the early Ming Dynasty of the Great Kiln Maple Cave Rock. Our museum collected a large number of porcelain pieces of Longquan guan kiln in the early Ming Dynasty, including ware seats, utensil covers and other types, but the number is very small, and the characteristics are not obvious, and it is impossible to rule out whether it is a folk kiln mixed in with other kilns, or a product of other strata. Later, the Zhejiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology and others compiled the "Longquan Dayao Fengdong Rock Excavated Porcelain", which included a case of instrument seats and was included in the "Yongle Official Instrument" (p. 146, plate 107). In addition, the Palace Museum in Beijing has a case of the "Minglongquan Kiln Blue Glazed HollowEdit seat" from the old collection of the Qing Palace, which is similar to the Fengdong Rock.
Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing
The following two examples are also from the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing, with a slightly darker glaze color, and their vessels are similar to those of the Tokyo National Museum and the seal inscriptions described in this article.
A smaller type of instrument seat, if you have seen the real thing, you must know that it is so small, such as miniature, the size of the large is undoubtedly more practical. In terms of shape, this type of porcelain ware seat imitates a wooden ware seat. The lacquered wooden ware seats that appear in Ming Dynasty paintings give an important reference to the use of porcelain ware seats.
Ming Shao Jin painting male and female figure axis (partial)
The bottle stove placed on the table has a base, a lacquered red ware seat, and a porcelain vase, which is beautiful and stable.
In the Ming Dynasty figure paintings cited in the previous drum nail basin article, the use of the instrument seat can almost always be seen.
Part of the "Diagram of the Five Tonghui"
The bottle furnace and flower pot also have a base, and it is still a lacquered red instrument seat with a porcelain thin plum bottle and folded branches of flowers for the crime head clearance.
Part of "Bamboo Garden ShouJitu"
It is still a lacquered red vessel seat, a eating utensil, and a large plate full of fruits, a wine urn, a jug, a wine cup, and so on.
Part of "Apricot Garden Collection"
The lacquered red vessel seat in the picture is relatively large, with a lotus leaf lid jar, and the lid can be seen on the side of the lid jar.
Let's talk about the unusual seal font of this instrument seat.
Ancient collectors collected calligraphy and paintings, and liked to stamp their own seals on the calligraphy and paintings, or add inscriptions to express their appreciation of the works, thus leaving traces of collectors. These calligraphy and paintings have been transferred from A to B, passed from previous generations to future generations, and the seals and inscriptions are the testimony of how many years of vicissitudes they have experienced, and also show that their circulation is orderly.
Naturally, this trend also affects the collection of other fields, such as porcelain. For example, the Qianlong Emperor liked to write poems on some porcelain, and the five famous kiln porcelains in the old collection of the Qing Palace in the Forbidden City on both sides of the strait were almost carved over and over again.
Due to the particularity of the material, it is not easy to engrave the inscription on the porcelain at will, and only Qianlong, as the emperor, can "do whatever he wants". Therefore, the collector's "collection" on porcelain is still very rare, which is also the unusual "added value" of this piece of ware.
The inscription is engraved on the inner wall of the base and reads as follows:
Zhang Sheng 1 and 2 brothers set up kilns, sheng 1 burned Ryutian kiln, born 2 burned kilns, brother is purple mouth iron foot, brother is gu qing ware also, Haoyuan resident Jian Gu HaoYuan (India)
From the "HaoYuan" payment and seal, it can be seen that this vessel seat was originally the old collection of Jingu collector Xu Shizhang.
Xu Shizhang (1886~1954), Zi Ruifu, Houyuan resident, Tianjin native, late Qing Dynasty calligrapher, great collector, the tenth brother (cousin) of Xu Shichang, the fourth president of the Republic of China. In his early years, he graduated from The Tongwen museum in Beijing, went to Belgium to study current politics and business, and studied business at the University of Rieda in Belgium, where he obtained a bachelor's degree. During the Republic of China, he served as vice minister of the Ministry of Communications and vice president of the Bank of Communications and president of the Currency Bureau. In 1922, he stepped down with Xu Shichang and left his post, and then lived in Tianjin, purchased real estate, set up education, medical services, and industry, was charitable and charitable, enthusiastic about public welfare undertakings, and had a high prestige in the local area. After liberation, Xu Shizhang actively participated in the construction of New China. Throughout his life, he was a man of good manners and devoted himself to the collection of cultural relics, including ancient stones, ancient jade, seals, calligraphy and paintings, inscriptions, and rare books. In his later years, he donated all the nearly 3,000 cultural relics he had spent his life painstakingly acquiring and greatly loved to the state free of charge. These cultural relics are now in the collection of Tianjin Art Museum. Among them, ancient jade and ancient stones constitute the main collection of these two items in the museum.
Xu Shizhang's own Use of One of the Shoushan Stone Seals (Guardian 2014 Autumn Auction, LOT4601)
As far as the content of the inscription is concerned, it reflects the theory of the Brother Kiln of the Longquan Zhang Clan, which was quite popular in the Republic of China at that time. For example, "Brother Kiln and Brother Kiln" written by Xu Yuanruo, the governor of Longquan County, can be called a representative work of this period.
In addition, this inscription is a large seal, the font is exquisite, the lines are condensed, the appearance is pale with the atmosphere of gold and stone, the inner charm is beautiful and flexible, the overall layout is staggered, natural and decent, and it is speculated or from the hands of famous artists.
According to kao, Zhou Xiding, Wang Fu'an and other seal engravers have all engraved seals on Xu Shizhang, especially Zhou Xiding and his apprentice Fu Dajie went to Xu Shizhang to collect the famous brick artifacts for him, which lasted for seven or eight years. In addition to passing on the Tuotuo, Zhou Xiding was also proficient in seal engraving, carving many self-use seals and idle seals for Xu Shizhang, and even to the point where Xu Xiding asked Zhou Xiding to engrave a seal to commemorate every wonderful product. The seal inscription on this vessel seat may be Kang Yuan's handwriting.