拍賣筆記 vol.269 覺是軒：十三/十四世紀剔红螭龍雲紋蓋盒，170萬港元成交 - David Priestley An Exceptionally Rare And Large Carved Cinnabar Lacquer Yellow-Ground 'Chilong' Box And Cover, Sold for £165,500

這件剔紅螭龍雲紋蓋盒以強勁有力的構圖與黃栗色地顯現出元代多彩雕漆的巔峰風格。螭龍昂首銜靈芝於雲氣之間，身勢翻轉，神態威而不暴，寓祥瑞與古意於一體。其雕工深峻，線條雄健，並以放射狀雲紋與回紋邊飾構成莊嚴的構圖節奏。經碳十四檢測確認為十三至十四世紀製，傳承有序，自1971年入瑞士舊藏，2008年香港佳士得釋出後再現市場，最終於倫敦以約170萬港元成交，堪稱近年元代雕漆重器中之典範。

LOT 108

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE AND LARGE CARVED CINNABAR LACQUER YELLOW-GROUND 'CHILONG' BOX AND COVER

13th/14th century

PRIESTLEY & FERRARO: THREE DECADES IN CHINESE ART (1994-2025)

6 November 2025, 11:00 GMT

London, New Bond Street

Sold for £165,500 inc. premium

13th/14th century

The circular cover boldly carved with a single coiled powerful chi dragon, the slightly foreshortened front-facing head with piercing eyes beneath bushy eyebrows, a wavy quiff emerging from tight ringlets framing the forehead, the ruyi-shaped snout above a wide mouth grasping a spray of lingzhi fungus, the foreclaws extended with wisps of flames running down the arms and back and dividing at the centre of the spine ahead of the splayed back legs, one extended dramatically over the symmetrically bifurcated tail, the whole scene framed by scrolling lingzhi-shaped clouds, the straight sides of the box and cover encircled by similarly generously proportioned leiwen bands, all reserved on a yellow-chestnut lacquer ground, the interior and base lacquered black, box. 23.5cm (9 1/4in) diam. (3).

Footnotes

十三/十四世紀 剔红螭龍雲紋蓋盒

Provenance:

A French private collection

A Swiss private collection, acquired in 1971

Christie's Hong Kong, 27 May 2008, lot 1931

來源：

法國私人收藏

瑞士私人收藏，獲得於1971年

香港佳士得，2008年5月27日，拍品編號1931

本件拍品為元代多彩雕漆中極為稀有的存世實例之一，其構圖生動而層次鮮明，主題為一螭龍於翻湧雲氣間盤旋騰躍，口銜靈芝。螭龍為龍之九子之一，被視為吉祥瑞獸，特徵在於體態修長、頭寬而額廣、尾分岐如葉。據《呂氏春秋》記載，孔子曾以螭龍自喻：「龍食乎清而遊乎清，螭食乎清而遊乎濁，魚食乎濁而遊乎濁。今丘上不及龍，下不若魚，丘其螭邪。」意指螭龍能食於清水而遊於濁流，寓示能處淨亦能適俗之中庸之德。螭龍紋之裝飾自漢代已盛，至十二、十三世紀復興，成為「復古」審美風潮中的重要象徵。

此蓋盒與數件晚宋至元代的雕漆螭龍蓋盒關係密切。最接近者為舊金山亞洲藝術博物館所藏南宋黑漆盒（館藏號B77M12.a-.b），盒面一對螭龍騰躍雲間，其中一龍銜靈芝。另一例為岡山林原美術館所藏南宋剔黑紅漆雙螭盒，刊於《宋元之美——以傳來漆器為中心》（東京，2004），圖錄第85號。京都靈源院藏一件署「楊茂」名之三螭剔紅漆盒，曾展於德川美術館與根津美術館，見《雕漆》，東京，1984，圖版180。紐約大都會藝術博物館藏一件構圖更為抽象的例證，見《東亞漆器——佛羅倫斯與赫伯特·歐文收藏》（紐約，1991），圖版16。另可比較克里夫蘭美術館舉辦《Chinese Art under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279–1368)》展所錄一件元代三龍戲靈芝大盒（S. Lee、W.K. Ho編，1968，圖版293）。北京出版《陽明山房藏宋元明清雕漆選》（2020）中，第8號元代剔紅螭龍靈芝盤亦與之紋飾相近。

此外，螭龍之此種造型風格亦見於宋、元瓷器之上。如北京故宮博物院清宮舊藏北宋定窯白釉螭龍洗（故00143080號），洗面飾螭龍與回紋邊飾；費城藝術博物館所藏兩件龍泉青瓷盤，盤面皆飾素燒螭龍，見S. Lee與W.K. Ho前述著錄圖版80、81。

盒與蓋側壁飾寬帶回紋，為元代雕漆常見特徵之一。可參考上海博物館藏元代剔紅漆陶潛採菊圖小盒，1954年出土於上海任氏墓，其側飾回紋帶相類，見《中國漆器精華》（福州，2003），圖版174。

另可對比2012年11月28日香港佳士得拍賣之一件宋代多彩剔漆螭龍靈芝紋圓盤（拍品2082），其構圖與雕工風格亦頗為接近。

The result of Art-Science Consulting, Haigerloch, carbon 14 test no.ETH 34605-01231107, dated 10 February 2008, is consistent with the dating of this lot.

本拍品經Art-Science Consulting, 海格洛赫,放射性碳定年法檢測，編號ETH 34605-01231107（2008年2月10日），結果與其斷代相符

The present lot represents one of the rarest surviving examples of Yuan dynasty polychrome carved lacquer, notable for its exceptionally vibrant design of a writhing archaistic chilong grasping a sprig of lingzhi fungus in its mouth amidst billowing scrolls of clouds. The chilong, or chi dragon, regarded as one of the nine sons of the dragon, is considered an auspicious mythical creature, distinguished by its slender body, broad head, and bifurcated tail curling into foliate forms. In the Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Lü (呂氏春秋), compiled around 239 BC, Confucius is described as likening himself to a chi-dragon. He explains that the long dragon feeds and swims only in clear waters; the chi-dragon feeds in clear waters but can swim in muddy ones; while the fish both feeds and swims in muddy waters. Acknowledging that he had not attained the lofty state of the long dragon, yet had not sunk to the lowly level of the fish, Confucius considered himself akin to the chi-dragon (龍食乎清而遊乎清，螭食乎清而遊乎濁，魚食乎濁而遊乎濁。今丘上不及龍，下不若魚，丘其螭邪). Decorative motifs featuring chilongwere already highly popular as early as the Han dynasty, and experienced a notable revival in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, attributable to the appealing archaistic flavour its presence lent.

The box is most closely comparable to several lacquer boxes decorated with two or three chi dragons, dating from the late Song to Yuan dynasty. The first and the closest example is a black lacquer box with a pair of very similar dragons with one clasping in its mouth a lingzhi sprig amongst related cloud scrolls, Southern Song dynasty, in the collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (acc.no.B77M12.a-.b). A carved black and red lacquer box and cover with two chilong, Southern Song dynasty, Hayashibara Art Museum, Okayama, is illustrated in So Gen no bi: denra no shikki o chushin ni, Tokyo, 2004, no.85. See also a carved cinnabar lacquer box and cover, with three similar chilong and bearing a Yang Mao signature, from the Ryogen-in collection in Kyoto, which was exhibited at the Tokugawa Art Museum and Nezu Institute of Fine Arts, illustrated in Carved Lacquer, Tokyo, 1984, no.180. A stylistically freer version with more abstract dragons in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated in East Asian Lacquer, The Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, New York, 1991, no.16. Compare also with a larger box dated to the Yuan dynasty, with three closely related confronted dragons amid a long stems of lingzhiillustrated by S.Lee and W.K.Ho, Chinese Art under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Cleveland, 1968, pl.293. See also a carved cinnabar lacquer dish with similar chilong, Yuan dynasty, illustrated in The Creation of Natural Immensity and Grandeur: The Yang Ming Shan Fang Collection of Lacquer from Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Beijing, 2020, pp.44-45, no.8.

Dragons of this distinctive style are also found on ceramic vessels dating to the Song and Yuan dynasties, such as a Dingyao white-glazed chilong brush washer decorated with a chi-dragon encircled by key-fret borders, Northern Song dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, Palace Museum, Beijing (acc.no.故00143080). See also a celadon-glazed dish with two biscuit dragons, and a Longquan celadon-glazed plate with a pair of biscuit dragons in the collection of Philadelphia Museum of Art, illustrated by S.Lee and W.K.Ho, Chinese Art under the Mongols: The Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), Cleveland, 1968, pls.80 and 81.

The sides of the box and cover, with wide bands of key-fret, are a feature typically found on lacquerwares of the Yuan dynasty. See for example, a small cinnabar lacquer box decorated with the poet Tao Qian in a garden picking chrysanthemum, Yuan dynasty, excavated in 1954 from the tomb of the Ren Family in Shanghai, with similar key-fret bands on the sides, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo qiqi jinghua (中國漆器精華), Fuzhou, 2003, pl.174.

See a related carved polychrome lacquer circular 'chilong and lingzhi' dish, Song dynasty, which was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2082.