Page 14 - Sotheby's October 3 2017 Bajixiang Bowl
P. 14
PREPARING WINE
FOR THE XUANDE
EMPEROR
REGINA KRAHL
With its distinct form, Buddhist design and may wonder whether use in a ritual context may commissioned, lavishly written in gold on indigo
impeccable quality, this covered bowl is a model be the reason for this. paper or printed with complex woodblock
piece of Xuande (1426-1435) imperial porcelain illustrations; and items for use in Buddhist
and appears to have no companion piece besides The Buddhist connotation of the lotus-and- ceremonies were specially crafted by imperial
examples from the Qing imperial collection, now emblem design on this bowl would support textile, porcelain and other workshops, to provide
held in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. such usage. The Xuande Emperor, although imperial donations to Buddhist monasteries or for
Outside the palace collections in Taipei and himself a diligent Confucian ruler, at the same use in the places of worship inside the Forbidden
Beijing, only four other bowls of this form appear time continued the patronage of Buddhist City.
to be preserved worldwide complete with their causes that had been a strong feature of his
covers, only one of them remaining in a private grandfather’s reign, the Yongle period (1403- Formal lotus scrolls with blooms supporting
collection, none of the present pattern. 1424), when Tibetan clerics played an important the Eight Buddhist Emblems were one of
role at the court and Tibetan Buddhist imagery the classic patterns decorating objects with
Bowls of this form, which is in every way found entry into various areas of the material Buddhist connotations since the Yongle period,
exceptional, occupy an important place in the culture. Buddhist monasteries and temples when the motif can be seen, for example, on
repertoire of early Ming (1368-1644) porcelains. were constructed or renovated to imperial cloisonné mandala bases, gold-engraved lacquer
Bowls with matching covers were rare throughout order, including the Da Baoensi in Nanjing sutra covers, embroidered silk streamers, etc.
China’s history and were clearly conceived for a with its porcelain pagoda, begun by the Yongle (Defining Yongle. Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-
distinct purpose. What is particularly remarkable and completed for the Xuande Emperor under Century China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art,
about this model is that both bowl and cover bear supervision of the eunuch admiral Zheng He, New York, 2005, catalogue pls 9, 22 and 34).
reign marks, and that the marks are prominently who had undertaken gigantic sea voyages for On porcelains it appeared only in the Xuande
placed in the centre of the otherwise plain insides, both rulers. Gilt-bronze Buddhist sculptures were period, when blue-and-white began to be used
thus immediately catching the eye, when the cast in the imperial workshops, inscribed with in a Buddhist context and largely replaced the
cover is lifted. A similar placement is otherwise the mark of the current reign, noting imperial monochrome white Buddhist ritual vessels of the
known only from stem bowls and cups, and one bestowal; Buddhist sutras were imperially Yongle reign; besides these covered bowls we
12 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比
