Asian Arts

NOTE:

The body of this rare and impressive “Dragon” vase of “Yuhuchunping” form is characteristic of the wares of the 17^th and 18^th century. The joined copper body and distinctive palate, including the so-called “Ming pink”, where powdered glass grains of brick-red and white are mixed, suggest a date sometime during the Kangxi period. The vigorous applied gilt repoussé five-clawed dragon encircling the body and neck, pursuing a flaming pearl, is of exceedingly high quality and likely embellished the vase at a later time, suggesting Imperial patronage. Such later embellishment would not be unusual, as there are many instances of Yuan and Ming cloisonné’s which received additional gilt embellishments in the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Other dragon-embellished or ornamented pieces include the elaborate 18^th century vase on stand in the George Walter Vincent Smith Collection Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts (63.23.23), the Qianlong period shrine from the Samuel P. Avery Jr. collection in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (09.520a,b) and the Imperial dog cage in the Philadelphia Museum of Art (1964-205-1).

Norman Stanley Potter (1926–1970) was a collector with wide-ranging interests who developed an eye for classical arts and built a collection of Asian art, antiquities, and early European art. Born to Polish immigrants in New York City, Potter began his self-edification in the arts during his youth while exploring the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As a prominent mathematician and engineer, he participated in the Manhattan Project and later was a designer of complex defense systems. Together with his wife, the abstract artist Berne Potter, he was active in the art and antique worlds of New York and became friends with important gallerists and collectors, including Julius Carlebach and Melvin Gutman.

相關資料：

是次呈現的蟠龍瓶瓶身為典型十七或十八世紀「玉壺春瓶」器形，頗為罕有。不論其分體鑄造拼接的銅胎；抑或是獨樹一幟以磚紅色與白色琺瑯混合而成的「大明粉」色澤，其出自大清康熙盛世應無異議。自瓶身至瓶頸，嵌一銅鎏金錘鍱五爪巨龍盤踞其間，昂首傲立，怒目圓睜，追逐一火焰明珠。此金龍或為稍晚加飾，然其品級之高，氣勢之盛非清宮禦製而不可有。此類後加飾絕非僅見，元明掐絲琺瑯器在十七或十八世紀加以銅鎏金佩飾或蔚然成風。可見相似嵌銅鎏金蟠龍瓶收錄於著作「Cloisonne, Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties」, New York, 2011, 頁.283, 圖.656, 藏於George Walter Vincent Smith Collection Museum斯普林菲爾德，馬薩諸塞州，同書中另見一例佛龕藏於布魯克林藝術博物館Samuel P. Avery Jr. collection, 頁. 82, 圖 5.3，同書中另見一例狗籠子藏於費城藝術博物館頁.55, 圖. 3.43.
根據資料顯示，是件拍品於1967年2月10日之前，被Norman Stanley Potter (1926–1970)收藏 。Potter先生好古，敏以求之，庋藏海納百川，包羅亞洲藝術與早期歐洲藝術。生於波蘭，而後流寓於紐約，少年時啟蒙於大都會藝術博物館並醉心其間。業精於數學與工程，並直接參與了「曼哈頓計劃」綜合防禦系統的設計。暨其美眷抽象藝術家Berne Potter女士，Potter伉儷當時活躍於紐約市古董藝術圈，亦與包含Julius Carlebach，Melvin Gutman等多位行家，藏家建立了深厚的友誼。