Page 53 - Sotheby's Hong Kong Important Chinese Works of Art, Oct. 9, 2022

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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT COLLECTION 明永樂
AN EXTREMELY RARE INSCRIBED WHITE- 甜白釉暗刻永平安頌銘如意紋僧帽壺
GLAZED 'MONK'S CAP EWER',
MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD 來源：
紐約蘇富比2015年3月17日，編號119
h. 20.3 cm
重要歐洲收藏
PROVENANCE
Sotheby's New York, 17th March 2015, lot 119.
An important European collection.
HK$ 500,000-700,000
US$ 64,000-89,500

Porcelain ewers of this form appear to have been produced Peace and tranquillity at midday.
since the Yuan dynasty and became a standard vessel Peace and tranquillity unceasing, by day and by night.
shape of the imperial kilns in the Yongle reign. This type of May the three treasures ensure peace and tranquillity.
white-glazed ewers was made for Tibetan Buddhist rituals A similar Yongle monk's cap ewer from the collection
performed either at court in the then capital, Nanjing, or of Stanley and Adele Herzman was included in Defining
in Tibet proper. The Emperor actively supported Tibetan Yongle. Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China, The
Buddhism, and in 1407 he invited the most influential Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005, pl. 5; one
lama Halima (1384-1415) to the capital Nanjing to perform sold at Christie’s London, 12th June 1989, lot 170, is in the
religious services for his deceased parents. Halima, Meiyintang collection and published in Regina Krahl, Chinese
bestowed with the title Dabao Fawang (Great Precious Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-
Religious Ruler) by the Emperor, was the Tibetan religious 2010, vol. 2, no. 650; one from the Eumorfopoulos collection
leader of the Karma-pa sect. The Emperor commissioned was sold in our London rooms, 30th May 1940, lot 314;
lavish gifts from the imperial workshops for this occasion. another was sold in our New York rooms, 19th November
More than fifty porcelain ewers of this form, either incised 1982, lot 252; and one at Christie’s Hong Kong, 19th March
or undecorated, were recovered from stratum five of the 1991, lot 532.
Yongle waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns site, believed 'Monk’s cap' ewers derive their shape from Tibetan ewers
to date from around 1407. See a fragmentary monk's made of metal or wood, which were probably placed in
cap ewer incised with lingzhi and floral scrolls published front of altars filled with provisions or with water for use
in Imperial Hongwu and Yongle Porcelain excavated at in ablutions, as is suggested in a somewhat later Tibetan
Jingdezhen, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1996, cat. no. 99. painted textile depicting Avalokiteshvara and other deities
Monk's cap ewers with Tibetan inscription is the behind an altar set with bowls of fruit, a flower vase, pear-
rarest version of this vessel type, more common being shaped bottles and a monk’s cap ewer, illustrated in Defining
undecorated pieces or ones with lotus scroll and bajixiang, Yongle. Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China, The
possibly due to the difficulty of finding porcelain decorators Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005, cat. no. 36.
able to render the Tibetan writing in Jingdezhen. The For a white Yuan prototype of this form but of different
inscription can be translated as: proportions, excavated from a tomb in Haidian district,
Peace and tranquillity by day. Beijing, and now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, see
Peace and tranquillity by night. Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese
ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 11, pl. 62.

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