Page 105 - Ming Porcelain Auction March 14, 2017 Sotheby's, NYC

Fig. 1 A Nestorian cross carved in Fig. 2 An illustration of the Fig. 3 A gold plaque of Garuda from
stone at Domkhar in Lower Ladakh Bhutanese ‘torma meeto’ (‘small the tomb of Prince Zhuang of Liang
(near Western Tibet), as drawn by A. god(dess)’) weaving pattern (d. 1441)
H. Francke © Hubei Provincial Museum
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©
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3 Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art

The form of the ewer identi es it as a product of the Jingdezhen kilns in the Patricia F Ferguson
early 16th century. A slightly taller ewer of the same shape bearing an apocryphal
four-character Xuande reign mark in the collection of the Gardiner Museum of Cobalt Treasures The Robert Murray
Ceramic Art, Toronto is illustrated in Patricia F. Ferguson, Cobalt Treasures: The
Robert Murray Bell and Ann Walker Bell Collection of Chinese Blue and White Bell and Ann Walker Bell Collection of
Porcelain, Toronto, 2003, cat. no. 47. Another, also with an apocryphal Xuande
mark, in the collection of the Ottema Kingma Foundation, the Netherlands is Chinese Blue and White Porcelain
published in Eva Ströber, Ming Porcelain for a Globalized Trade, Stuttgart, 2013,
cat. no. 54. A third example with this design and mark was sold in our London 2003 47
rooms, 13th-14th November 1972, lot 382. The aforementioned Eastern Tibetan
silver ewer of the 16th century also takes this form. Ottema Kingma

With the exception of the Jiajing Emperor’s reign, in the Ming dynasty the Eva Ströber Ming Porcelain
relationship between China and Tibet was one of suzerainty, with Tibet paying
tribute to the Ming court and the court reciprocating by bestowing o cial titles for a Globalized Trade 2013
and luxurious gifts on Tibetan lamas. This engendered a cultural climate in which
religious and artistic ideas owed across the Sino-Himalayan landmass. Porcelain 54 1972
designs of the Jingdezhen kilns re ect this exchange. For instance, the spout
and mouth of the ‘monk’s cap’ ewers of the Yongle period borrowed their form 11 13 14 382
from the yellow hats worn by Tibetan lamaist monks. An example of this type of
ewer in the collection of the British Museum is published in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming
Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 3:2. The same volume
includes an image of a blue and white dish produced at Jingdezhen during the Ceramics in the British Museum
Zhengtong or Tianshun reigns which combines Chinese oral and diaper patterns
with Tibetan Sanskrit text, pl. 5:21. Other Ming dynasty porcelain wares that fuse 2001 32
Chinese and Tibetan characteristics were preserved in the Qing court collection,
now in the Palace Museum, Beijing and are illustrated in Baochang Geng, ed., 5 21
Gugong bowuguan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji: qinghua youlihong / The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with 2 2000
Underglaze Red, vol. 2, Hong Kong, 2000, cat. nos 32, 33, 35, 205, 210, and 211. 32 33 35 205 210 211
These are just a few, out of many, examples of porcelains produced at the o cial
Ming kilns in response to Sino-Himalayan relations of the period.