Page 78 - Ming Porcelain Sothebys march 2018

76 SOTHEBY’S NEW YORK 20 MARCH 2018 MING: LUMINOUS DAWN OF EMPIRE

This Yongle version is the direct prototype of our Xuande piece, which shows
the same lush # ower scrolls and supporting designs. Yet it has one distinct, if ͑ᆀڡڀኜҖdεաͺ౶ᚆږ᙮ኜᅂᚤdᘱ
tiny di! erence: its spout also has a double-gourd shaped opening, but while ϾַЇ܁ᅃɓಃdස׵ˢԷʿ୚ື೹Ъሜ
the Yongle gourd has a pointed tip, following the shape of the fruit, on the ዆f͉ۜኜҖdᏐ๕ІϘಂت౶ᕑ͉dԈ௔
present ewer, it is shaped more like a double-gourd vessel with a # ared neck. ׼ശdɪऎ௹ي᎜ᔛۜ޼Ӻɽӻj׼˾֜
㜺ନኜ‘dɪऎd2007ϋdࠫ103 4d༈ࣣ
No other ewer of this form of Xuande mark and period appears to have ਗ਼ᅰԷ Keir הᔛߒɤɚ˰ߏზኜၾɓೌಛڡ
survived, but a virtually identical piece was reconstructed from sherds ڀԷආБ࿁ˢdྡو3 22€ྡʞi̤Ԉɓ
recovered from the waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns at Zhushan in ፹ვზԷd̈ІႺזतdʦГڛబϨdᓙ˾
ɤɧ˰ߏd༱׵ James W. AllandIslamic
Jingdezhen. That ewer has been much published, for example, in the Hong
Metalwork: the Nuhad Es-Said Collection‘d
Kong Museum of Art catalogue, 1989, op.cit., cat. no. 79; in Jingdezhen
ࡐ౱d1982ϋ€อو1999ϋdྡو5fν
chutu Ming Xuande guanyao ciqi/Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at ۃ˖הࠑd͑ᆀϋගᖵΘܲϤኜҖ௴Ⴁନడ
Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 22; in Jingdezhen chutu Շόj͉ۜόһމ೽Ӽdၾږ᙮ኜࡡۨϞ༰
Yuan Ming guanyao ciqi/Yuan’s and Ming’s Imperial Porcelain Unearthed εʔΝd̤ɓόଫމεԈd໖Ъ͘↉dٲ᎕
from Jingdezhen, Yan-Huang Art Museum, Beijing, 1999, cat. no. 118; and in ஈЪഷڀҖ̉ৎdһટڐږ᙮ኜࡡۨf
Jingdezhen chutu Mingdai yuyao ciqi [Porcelains from the Ming imperial kilns
ɪࠑՇᗳڡڀੂడʘೌಛԷd຅ࣛѩϞ̈ɹ
excavated at Jingdezhen], Beijing, 2009, pl. 076 (" gs 2-4).
ऎ̮dאމ׼˂ɿ੿ሮ̮Ԟʘ਷ᓿdΝࣛ͵
Ԉ׵ʕ਷ࢗҒ੿ᔛfͺࣦڛᅃˢဧ໋ᄽᔜڢ
In the Yongle period a whole range of Islamic metal shapes were reproduced
in white and blue-and-white porcelain, and many of them continued to be
made in the Xuande period, with slight adjustments to their proportion
and details. This ewer shape appears to derive from slightly earlier Persian
models, see Lu Minghua, Shanghai Bowuguan zangpin yanjiu daxi/Studies of
the Shanghai Museum Collections : A Series of Monographs. Mingdai guanyao
ciqi [Ming imperial porcelain], Shanghai, 2007, pp. 103-4, where several
bronze vessels from the Keir collection, dating from around the 12th century
are illustrated in comparison to an unmarked blue-and-white example, pl.
3-22 (" g. 5); another silver- and copper-inlaid brass prototype from Herat,
present Western Afghanistan, of the 13th century is illustrated in James W.
Allan, Islamic Metalwork: the Nuhad Es-Said Collection, London, 1982 (rev.ed.
1999), pl. 5. As mentioned above, this metal shape was in the Yongle period
copied in two di! erent ways in porcelain: while the present shape, which
represents the rarer form, shows less similarity to the metal original, the
more common version, with a star-shaped collar around the neck and vertical
panels around the body follows the metal original more closely.

Unmarked blue-and-white ewers of both forms were sent abroad, probably
as imperial gifts to foreign rulers, but equally entered the Chinese court
collection. For ewers from the Safavid royal collection in the Ardebil Shrine
in Iran see John Alexander Pope, Chinese Porcelains from the Ardebil Shrine,
Washington, D.C., 1956 (rev.ed., London, 1981), pls 54 and 55; and T. Misugi,

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