Page 128 - Important Chinese Art Hong Kong April 2, 2019 Sotheby's

THE ‘TREASURE VASE’: AN ARCHETYPAL
YONGLE DESIGN

REGINA KRAHL

This unusual form appears to have been produced at Blue-and-white porcelain vessels of this design are known
Jingdezhen only under the Yongle (r. 1403-1424) and both without reign mark and inscribed with a Xuande mark.
Xuande (r. 1426-1435) Emperors and the preference of this As happened frequently between the Yongle and Xuande
design in these two reigns may be related to these rulers’ periods, examples from the two reigns vary in detail. Julian
active patronage of Buddhism. Vases of similar form with a Thompson, who discussed this vase in the Alan Chuang
prominent galleried rim and high foot, similarly decorated collection catalogue, states (op.cit., p. 52) that the design of
with lotus petals and with the same triple pearl or jewel these vases was adjusted when the mark was introduced,
motifs at the neck, but flower instead of lingzhi sprays, are and that “the unmarked vases have a more domed mouth,
in the Yongle period often depicted in a Buddhist context. shorter neck and a plain curved interior to the foot, whereas
Draped with knotted ribbons and holding a triple flaming the marked vases have a flatter mouth, longer neck and a
jewel on top, they are identified as the ‘treasure vases’ distinct glazed step inside the footring”.
(bum-pa) of Tibetan Buddhism and represent one of the Another unmarked vase of this design in the National
Eight Buddhist Emblems. ‘Treasure vases’ are considered Palace Museum, Taiwan, was included in the Museum’s
inexhaustible vessels and as such symbolize the spiritual exhibition Mingdai Xuande guanyao jinghua tezhan tulu/
abundance of the Buddha. Vases of this type are depicted, Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te
for example, on gilt-engraved (qiangjin) lacquer sutra covers Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, no.
of the Yongle period; compare a detail from a sutra cover 13. An example excavated in Beijing and today in the Capital
from the Baoyizhai collection, sold in these rooms, 8th April Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Shoudu Bowuguan cang
2014, lot 38 (fig. 1).
ci xuan [Selection of porcelains from the Capital Museum],
With its downward pointing rim, the shape is very unusual Beijing, 1991, pl. 103. Two similar vases from the Wu Lai-
and otherwise rarely seen in Chinese porcelain. Equally rare hsi collection were sold in our London rooms, 26th May
is the decoration of lingzhi sprays, pearl motifs and petal 1937, lots 31 and 32, the former again 16th June 1939, lot
panels only. In China, the form is known as a ‘pomegranate 106, from the collection of Major L.F. Hay; one of the Wu
vase’ (shiliu zun), probably on account of some likeness of Lai-hsi vases is now in the Sir Percival David Collection
the rim to the crown of sepals of a pomegranate. The form is in the British Museum, London, and was discussed and
reminiscent of earlier melon-shaped vases which, however, illustrated together with the Pilkington vase listed below
are lacking the distinctive rim and the splayed foot. Compare in Margaret Medley, ‘Regrouping 15th Century Blue and
a silver vase discovered as part of a Southern Song (1127- White’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 34,
1279) hoard of gold and silver wares at Pengzhou, Sichuan 1962-63, pl. 9; another from the collection of H.R.N. Norton,
province, and now in the Pengzhou Municipal Museum, sold in our London rooms, 5th November 1963, lot 163, was
illustrated in Sichuan Pengzhou Songdai jin yin qi jiaocang [A included in the exhibition Mostra d’Arte Cinese/Exhibition of
Song dynasty hoard of gold and silver vessels at Pengzhou in Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 630.
Sichuan], Beijing, 2003, col. pl. 42, and p. 125, fig. 167.

126 SOTHEBY ’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART