Page 122 - 2019 October Important Chinese Art Sotheby's Hong Kong

When not in use, these vessels would be kept on altars, Other examples exist in underglaze-blue and iron-red
attired with a coloured vestment, see for such an example with dragons, included in the exhibition Tianminlou cang
the exhibition catalogue Xue yu cangzhen. Xizang wenwu ci/ Chinese Porcelain. The S.C. Ko Tianminlou Collection,
jinghua/Treasures from Snow Mountains. Gems of Tibetan Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1987, cat. no. 118;
Cultural Relics, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2001, no. 74. in famille-rose on a green ground in the Victoria and Albert
Museum, London, illustrated in Rose Kerr, Chinese Ceramics.
Challenged to imitate these extremely complex metal forms, Porcelain of the Qing Dynasty 1644-1911, London, 1986, pl.
the Jingdezhen craftsmen strove to meet the demanding
requirements of the Qianlong Emperor. The present ewers 101; and in famille-rose on a gold ground, included in the
with their typical shape of round, curved and angled profiles exhibition The Wonders of the Potter’s Palette, Hong Kong
Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1984, cat. no. 68, from the
are distinctively striking. The gilt beading, a direct reference collection of K.S. Lo.
to their metal prototype, make them even more extravagant,
yet extremely refined, with their sophisticated doucai design, At auction were sold in these rooms, three famille-rose
celebrating the Chenghua (1465-1487) style of polychrome white-ground ewers, 26th October 1993, lot 254; 1st
washes in red, yellow, green and purple within finely drawn November 1994, lot 194; and 8th October, 2006, lot 1122;
outlines in underglaze blue. and two famille-rose gold-ground examples, 25th November
1981, lot 275; and 19th November 1986, lot 272 and again
The current ewers’ design of ribbon-tied Buddhist emblems 26th October 2003, lot 107.
borne on lotus sprays is also known of Chenghua porcelain,
compare, for example, a doucai bowl with this decoration For later examples, compare two famille-rose
excavated from the imperial kiln site at Jingdezhen, included Daoguang-marked (1821-1850) ewers, from the Simon
in the exhibition The Emperor’s broken china. Reconstructing Kwan collection, included in the exhibition Joined Colors.
Chenghua porcelain, Sotheby’s, London, 1995, cat. no. 18. Decoration and Meaning in Chinese Porcelain, Arthur M.
Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.,
Doucai ewers of this type appear to be exceedingly rare cat. no. 50; the other sold in these rooms, 2nd May 2000,
and it is even more unusual to find a matching pair such
as the present example. One individual doucai vessel from lot 723.
the collection of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, is Compare also altar vases of related form known as ‘grass
illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics, London, 1996, pl. storage jars’ (bumpa), which were used to contain sacred
162, with a large flower scroll as main design and different plants for Tibetan Buddhist rituals. They share with the
embellished spout and makara head; another was sold in present ewers the globular body and drum-like upper
these rooms, 2nd May 2000, lot 677, similar to the present section, but lack spouts. See, for example, a pair of famille-
lot, but with a painted spout. rose bumpa jars sold in our New York rooms, 24th March
1998, lot 637; another single vessel on a pink ground from
From the Qing court collection, similar ewers with various the Fonthill Heirlooms, illustrated in Hugh Moss, Yuzhi/
related decorations are known, in iron-red and underglaze By Imperial Command. An Introduction to Ch’ing Imperial
blue; in famille-rose with gilt on a green ground; in gold
relief on a green ground; and in gold on a dark-blue ground, Painted Enamels, Hong Kong, 1976, pl. 84; and a silver
illustrated in Jin yin tong fojiao gongju tezhan/A Special example with gold plaiting, covered in cloth, from the Qing
court collection, included in the exhibition Gugong zhencang
Exhibition of Buddhist Gilt Votive Objects, National Palace Zang chuan fojiao wenwu/Tibetan Buddhism Relics of the
Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 95.
Palace Museum. Lightness of Essence, Macao Museum of
Art, Macao, 2003, cat. no. 86.

120 SOTHEBY ’S IMPORTANT CHINESE ART