明代的一只碗从旧货摊到苏富比。英语读头条（第679期）

Chinese bowl bought for $35 at a yard sale 

sold for over $700,000

一个门前旧货中花35美元购买的中国碗

以超过70万美元售出

by Oscar Holland & Jacqui Palumbo / Mar. 18, 2021

Edited and Translated by Ray & Sally

An exceptionally rare 15th-century Chinese antique that wound up at a yard sale has sold for $721,800 at auction by Sotheby's, exceeding its top estimated sale price of half a million dollars.

苏富比拍卖行拍卖了一件异常罕见的15世纪中国古董，成交价为72.18万美元，超过了50万美元的最高估计成交价。

Bought for just $35 near New Haven, Connecticut, last year, the small blue-and-white floral bowl is now worth nearly 29,000 times that price. It features motifs of lotus, peony, chrysanthemum and pomegranate blossoms, and was originally commissioned by China's imperial court during the Ming dynasty.

去年在康涅狄格州纽黑文附近以35美元的价格购买的这只蓝白色花纹的小花碗，现在的价值是这个价格的近2.9万倍。它以荷花、牡丹花、菊花和石榴花为主题，最初是由中国明朝政府委托制作的。

While Sotheby's is not disclosing the seller's identity, the head of its Chinese art department, Angela McAteer, revealed in a phone interview ahead of the sale that the man who found the bowl at the yard sale "didn't haggle over the $35 asking price."

虽然苏富比没有透露卖家的身份，但苏富比中国艺术部负责人安吉拉·麦卡蒂尔（Angela McAteer）在拍卖前接受电话采访时透露，在后院旧货市场上发现这只碗的人“没有为35美元的要价讨价还价”。

haggle over：讲价

Shortly after making the purchase, he sent photographs of the bowl to auction specialists, who identified it as an item of historical significance. "We instinctively had a very, very good feeling about it," McAteer said.

购买后不久，他将碗的照片寄给拍卖专家，拍卖专家认定这是一件具有历史意义的物品。”我们本能地对这个碗有一种非常非常好的感觉。“

Upon closer inspection, the artifact, known as a "lotus bowl," due to its resemblance to a lotus bud, was found to have originated from the court of the Yongle Emperor, who ruled from 1403 to 1424 -- a period noted for its distinctive and celebrated porcelain techniques.

经过仔细检查，这件被称为“莲花碗”的文物，由于它与莲花芽相似，被发现起源于永乐皇帝的宫廷，永乐皇帝在位于1403年至1424年，这一时期以其独特而著名的瓷器工艺而闻名。

"(The bowl had an) incredibly smooth porcelain body" and a "really unctuous silky glaze," McAteer said, which she noted "was never replicated in future reigns or dynasties." In addition to its vibrant cobalt blue coloring, she added, "it had all the hallmarks that one would expect of these great commissions of the Yongle period."

麦克蒂尔说：“这个碗有一个非常光滑的瓷体”和一个“非常不考究的丝质釉面”，她指出“在未来的统治或朝代中从来没有被复制过。”除了它鲜艳的钴蓝颜色，她补充说，“它具有人们所期望的永乐时期这些伟大使命的所有特征。”

porcelain：瓷;瓷器

A 'mystery'

一个“谜团”

During his reign, the Yongle Emperor transformed the porcelain craft, placing large orders for his court and exerting greater control over the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen, China's most important porcelain-making city.

在永乐帝的统治下，人们改变了瓷器工艺，为他的宫廷传达了大量的指令，并对景德镇（中国最重要的制瓷城市）的御窑施加了更大的控制。

kiln：窑

"The Yongle Emperor really promoted the artistic importance of porcelain," McAteer said. "He elevated it from being a utilitarian bowl, for example, into a true work of art."

麦克蒂尔说：“永乐皇帝真的提升了瓷器的艺术重要性，就比如，他把它从一个实用的碗提升为真正的艺术作品。”

With a diameter of just over six inches, the small but detailed bowl would likely have had both artistic and practical value to the court. McAteer said, however, that very little is known about its provenance or how came to be at the yard sale. "It's a frustrating mystery," she said, adding that there is "scant documentation" from the period.

碗的直径只有6英寸多一点，这个小巧而精致的碗对宫廷来说可能既有艺术价值，又有实用价值。然而，麦克蒂尔说，人们对它的起源以及它是如何沦落到普通人家的后院旧货拍卖的知之甚少。她说：“这是一个令人沮丧的谜。”并补充说，关于这一时期，“文件非常少”。

Only six other similar bowls are known to have survived, according to Sotheby's, with others housed by institutions including the National Palace Museum in Taipei, as well as the British Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum in London.

据苏富比拍卖行称，目前已知只有6个类似的碗幸存下来，其他碗由台北故宫博物院以及大英博物馆和伦敦维多利亚阿尔伯特博物馆等机构收藏。

Offering her advice to other porcelain bargain-hunters, McAteer said: "Look for an equilibrium and balance in the design... and assess the quality and the workmanship that has gone into it."

麦克蒂尔在向其他瓷器逢低买入者提供建议时说：“在设计中寻找平静和平衡。。。并评估其质量和工艺。”

equilibrium：平衡；安宁

The find was auctioned as part of "Asia Week," a series of Sotheby's sales featuring artifacts, antiques and contemporary art from across the region.

这一发现作为“亚洲周”的一部分进行了拍卖，这是苏富比拍卖会的系列活动，包括来自亚洲各地的文物、古董和当代艺术。

Following the sale, McAteer said in a press statement: "Today's result for this exceptionally rare floral bowl, dating to the 15th century, epitomizes the incredible, once-in-a-lifetime discovery stories that we dream about as specialists in the Chinese Art field... it is a reminder that precious works of art remain hidden in plain sight just waiting to be found."

拍卖结束后，麦克蒂尔在一份新闻声明中说：“今天这只特别罕见的花碗的拍卖品可以追溯到15世纪，它集中体现了我们作为中国艺术领域的专家梦寐以求的不可思议的、千载难逢的发现故事......它提醒我们，珍贵的艺术作品仍然隐藏在平淡无奇中，等待着被发现。”

epitomize：成为...的典范