Page 26 - Sotheby's May 10th 2017 London Important Chinese Art

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PROPERTY FROM AN ASIAN PRIVATE COLLECTION White-glazed ‘monk’s cap’ ewers were made at the imperial
porcelain kilns at Jingdezhen for the Yongle Emperor (1403-
A RARE ‘SWEET WHITE’ ‘MONK’S CAP’ 24) to be used in Tibetan Buddhist rituals performed either
EWER at court in the then capital, Nanjing, or in Tibet proper. The
MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD Emperor actively supported Tibetan Buddhism, and in 1407 he
invited to the capital the most in uential Tibetan lama, Halima
the compressed globular body rising from a splayed foot to (1384-1415) of the Karma-pa sect, to perform religious services
a ared cylindrical neck, surmounted by a galleried ‘monk’s for his deceased parents. For this occasion he commissioned
cap’ rim with a small lug on the interior, the tall spout of semi- lavish gifts from the imperial workshops. More than fty
circular section extending the full length of the neck, the wide porcelain ewers of this form, either incised or undecorated,
strap handle with a ruyi-shaped terminal and a ruyi-shaped tab were recovered from stratum ve of the Yongle waste heaps of
on top, applied overall with a rich white glaze the Ming imperial kilns site, believed to date from around 1407,
19.5 cm, 7¾ in. and are discussed in the catalogue to the exhibition Imperial
Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from
PROVENANCE the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong
Collection of Mr and Mrs P. McCulloh. Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 62; and another in the
Christie’s New York, 19th March 2008, lot 577. Tibet Museum, Lhasa, was included in the exhibition Treasures
from Snow Mountain. Gems of Tibetan Cultural Relics,
಴£ 40,000-60,000 Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2001, cat. no. 88.
HK$ 386,000-580,000 US$ 49,700-74,500
‘Monk’s cap’ ewers derive their shape from Tibetan ewers
P McCulloh 577 made of metal or wood, which were probably placed in front of
2008 3 19 altars lled with provisions or with water for use in ablutions,
as is suggested in a somewhat later Tibetan painted textile
depicting Avalokiteshvara and other deities behind an altar set
with bowls of fruit, a ower vase, pear-shaped bottles and a
monk’s cap ewer, illustrated in the catalogue to the exhibition
De ning Yongle. Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005, cat. no.
36. The form of this ewer appears to have been produced
in porcelain since the Yuan dynasty and became a standard
vessel shape in the Yongle reign.

24 SOTHEBY’S