Page 17 - Six treasures of IMpeerial Art Sothebys Hong Kong April 3 2019

Fig. 1
Wintergreen-glazed stem bowl, Ming Dynasty, Yongle period
© Collection of Palace Museum, Beijing
圖一
明永樂 冬青釉高足盌
© 北京故宮博物院藏品

In the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), stem bowls had a distinct Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Monochrome
Buddhist connotation. The strong belief of the Yongle Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, pl. 124 (fig. 1), the other sold in
Emperor in Tibetan Buddhism initiated an unprecedented our London rooms, 7th April 1981, lot 252, and again in these
flowering of works of art ordered from various imperial rooms, 11th May 1983, lot 105.
workshops for use in Buddhist ceremonies, from Buddhist A few ‘wintergreen’ stem bowls lacking the ‘bamboo-node’
gilt-bronze sculptures over lacquer sutra cover to many detail are also recorded from the Yongle reign: one in the
other accoutrements and votive items in different media, Tibet Museum, see Xizang Bowuguan cang Ming Qing ciqi
including porcelain. Stem bowls were either used in Buddhist jingpin/Ming and Qing Dynasties Ceramics Preserved in Tibet
ceremonies in the imperial palaces, or bestowed on high- Museum, Beijing, 2004, pl. 26; another, with slight damage,
ranking Tibetan Buddhist clerics and their monasteries. in the Palace Museum, illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed.,
Several fine early Ming stem bowls are still preserved in Gugong Bowuguan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of
Tibet, where they may have been used together with monk’s ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing,
cap ewers; see Xueyu cangzhen. Xizang wenwu jinghua/ 2005, vol. 1, pl. 88; and one was sold in these rooms, 19th
Treasures from Snow Mountains. Gems of Tibetan Cultural November 1986, lot 215, and again 8th October 2013, lot
Relics, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2001, cat. nos 93-97. 3028. A single ‘wintergreen’ example also exists with anhua
Elaborate fitted cases made for transport or storage, are dragons around the interior and a four-character Yongle
testimony to the high esteem in which they were held (ibid., mark incised in the centre inside, sold in these rooms 24th
cat. nos 95 and 99).
November 1981, lot 133, and again in our New York rooms,
At the Qing court (1644-1911), early Ming stem bowls were 22nd March 2001, lot 90.
valued as objects of beauty and displayed sitting in sizeable After the Yongle period, this subtle coloration, which requires
wooden stands, encompassing and completely hiding their impeccably prepared materials and utmost control of the
stem, but protecting them against toppling. A monochrome firing, was soon abandoned and properly revived only in the
white stem bowl, almost certainly also of the Yongle period, Yongzheng reign. The imperial kilns also developed some
is depicted with its stand in the Guwantu [Pictures of other related pale green glaze colours in this period, such
antiquities] of 1729, preserved in the Victoria and Albert as the more bluish cuiqing (‘kingfisher green’) colour seen
Museum, London, and illustrated in China. The Three on small jars (as sold in these rooms, 8th October 2009,
Emperors. 1662-1795, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 2005, lot 1624), but these different shades seem to have been
cat. no. 169, p. 255 bottom right.
designated to particular shapes and were fired to incredible
Only two other stem bowls of this ‘wintergreen’ colour and precision. Only in the Yongzheng reign had the potters
with this ‘bamboo-node’ stem appear to be recorded, one once more regained the ability to create at will such closely
in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete related, but clearly distinguishable glaze tones.

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