Page 136 - 一色，一切色—釉瓷幻化“承色”之美

believed them to be tainted by Legalist Confucian philosophy. For this reason they turned back to the ancient
periods of the Bronze Age, such as the Shang dynasty, and avidly studied ancient texts. They also examined
archaic objects, including those that had been dug up from the ground. Bronze Age tombs yielded jades
and bronzes, for example artefacts unearthed at the Shang dynasty capital Anyang during the Huizong reign
period (1101-1125 ). The Huizong emperor was the greatest connoisseur of the period, amassing a vast
collection of treasures in his palace and promoting the writing of texts to illustrate and document them. Many
ceramic artefacts borrowed archaic forms and decorations during the Song period.

There are comparable Longquan zun vessels in the Sir Percival Collection at the British Museum (Fig. 1), and
in the Tokyo National Museum (Figs. 2 & 3), but they chiefly date to the succeeding Yuan dynasty and are not
quite so refined as this vessel . Nevertheless, it is apparent that the precedent for ceramics to copy archaic
②
bronzes was first established during the Song dynasty. In the ensuing Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties this
tradition continued, because reverence for the past demonstrated education and scholarship.

Next we turn to the question of provenance. The jar was once owned by Colonel William Roy Hodgson (1892-
1958), an Australian soldier and diplomat with a long and distinguished international career. Colonel Hodgson
was Australia’s representative to the United Nations Human Rights Commission and a member of the drafting
committee for the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. He served on the drafting committee
alongside other much more well-known figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962), wife of USA
President Franklin D. Roosevelt and first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945; Dr. Peng-Chun Chang
張彭春 (1892-1957) a Chinese academic, philosopher, playwright, human rights activist, and diplomat; and Dr.
③
Charles Malik (1906-1987) a Lebanese academic, diplomat, philosopher, and politician .
During the early 20th century it was common for educated military men and diplomats to collect Chinese
④
ceramics , both because they appreciated their great beauty and also because they represented an educated
refinement. This vase is a high-quality example of such collecting taste.

—

②: Rose Kerr, Jade Green and Kingfisher Blue. Longquan Wares from Museums and Art Institutes Around the World 梅青色醉籠泉
窯 (ACC Art Books, Hong Kong, 2022), nos.163, 164, 167, pp.165-167.

③: https://talkabout.iclrs.org/2023/12/05/colonel-william-roy-hodgson/#:~:text=Colonel%20William%20Roy%20Hodgson%20
is,returned%20to%20Australia%20at%20the, accessed 26 April 2024. The internet entry contains a photograph of Colonel
Hodgson with Dr Malik.
④: See for example the collecting career of the British soldier Colonel R.J. Murdoch Smith (1835-1900), who amassed a large
number of Chinese ceramics (including Yuan dynasty blue and white) for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Rose Kerr
and Luisa E. Mengoni, Chinese Export Ceramics (V&A Publishing, London, 2011), pp.105-107.

英國著名學者Rose Kerr，英國歷史學者，畢業於倫敦大學亞非學院，主修中國研究。柯氏曾任維多利亞和艾伯特博物院遠東部
門主管，至2003年離任，是劍橋大學李約瑟研究院名譽副教授、格拉斯哥大學名譽院士、中英協會教育信托前主席、大維德基
金會信托人、***博物館專家組顧問，以及倫敦東方陶瓷學會前會長。

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