16th century Cast with deep rounded sides rising from a short splayed foot to a flaring rim, the exterior enamelled against a turquoise ground with four shaped cartouches, each variously enclosing figurative scenes amongst garden landscapes, the first with an attendant presenting a flower to a seated scholar, the second with a scholar looking back towards a boy carrying a qin, the third with a seated scholar holding a wine cup with an attendant standing beside supporting an ewer, the fourth with a boy offering a vessel to a scholar, all interspersed with the babao on a ground of swirls above lotus lappets, the rim with a chevron band enclosing demi-florets and the foot with a band of swirls, similarly decorated to the interior with a central medallion enclosing a shou-character, encircled by four leaping fish alternating with stylised lotus sprays, below a floral band encircling the rim, the turquoise base with a stylised floral medallion. 20.2cm (8in) diam. 注脚 十六世紀 銅胎掐絲琺瑯人物祝壽撇口碗 The present bowl is a rare example and belongs to a small group of cloisonné wares produced during the second half of the 16th century, which was mostly under the reign of the Jiajing emperor. The Jiajing emperor was particularly fervent in his Daoist beliefs among the Ming dynasty emperors. The decoration on the current bowl represents the ideal state of Dao. Compare a cloisonné enamel bowl of this form, similarly decorated on the interior with a shou-character surrounded by cranes in flight, in the Museé des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, illustrated by B.Quette, ed., Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties, New York, 2011, pl.38. For figural decoration of similar composition on cloisonné enamel, see that on a gu vase in the Palace Museum. Beijing, Jiajing period, illustrated in Zhongguo jinyin boli falangqi quanji: 5: falangqi vol.1, Hebei, 2001, no.102. For a closely related counterpart in Imperial porcelain, revealing the close relationship between the imperial enamel workshops and porcelain kilns at Jingdezhen, see a blue and white 'dragon and phoenix' bowl, Jiajing mark and period, also decorated in the interior with a central shou-character medallion; and another related blue and white 'fish' bowl, Jiajing mark and period, both illustrated by J.Ho, ed., The Fame of Flame: Imperial Wares of the Jiajing and Wanli Periods, Hong Kong, 2009, nos.8 and 10. 此撇口碗雖無年號款識，但從其掐絲工藝、紋飾圖案以及琺瑯質地都具有嘉慶時期的特點。嘉慶皇帝篤信道教，因此內廷製作的藝術品上多帶有道教色彩的裝飾題材。 參看巴黎裝飾藝術博物館藏一件嘉靖款掐絲琺瑯雲鶴紋壽字碗，著錄於B. Quette，《Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties》，紐約，2011年，圖版38。另見北京故宮藏一件明代掐絲琺瑯嬰戲圖觚，時代定為嘉慶時期，著錄於《中國金銀玻璃琺瑯器全集5：琺瑯器（一）河北，2001年，編號102。 在嘉靖時期景德鎮官窯瓷器上亦可窺見類似形製及紋飾的青花碗，如一件明嘉靖青花龍鳳紋碗，碗心同樣飾「壽」字，以及另一件明嘉靖青花蓮塘魚藻紋碗，著錄於何懿行主編，《爐火純青：嘉靖及萬里官窯瓷器》，香港，2009年，編號8及10。