Page 128 - Bonhams, Fine Chinese Art, London November 3, 2022

The roundels on the upper and lower parts of the mount are Pear-shaped ewers, such as the present example, appear to be based
invocations: on an earlier round sectioned prototype produced during the Yuan and
early Ming dynasties, which in turn were inspired by Central Asian and
ya ghafran (O Forgiving One) Middle Eastern metal vessels. See, for example, a blue and white ewer,
ya sultan (O Sovereignty) Yongle, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of
ya Hanan (O Compassionate One) the Palace Museum: Blue and White Porcelain with Underglaze Red,
ya musta’an (O Requiter) vol.1, Hong Kong, 2000, p.43, no.41. Similarities can also be drawn
ya ‘azum (O Mightly One) with a group of tianbai ewers, Yongle, excavated from the Imperial kilns
at Jingdezhen despite these specimens display a wider neck and a
The inscribed band on the rim is the basmallah (invocation in the name square spout; see Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande periods
of Allah) followed by the Qur’anic text of Surah 68, verse 51: Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen,
Bismillah al-rahman al-rahim wa an yakad al-din kafaru al-yuzliqunak Hong Kong, 1989, pp.96-97, no.7.
bi-basrihim lama sami’ua al-dhikaru wa yaqulun innhu lamajnun -
‘When they hear Our revelations, the unbelievers almost devour you Although the shape of this ewer does not appear to have been made
with their eyes. ‘He is surely possessed’, they say. (Translation from in the following reign periods, it was revived in the Jiajing reign on both
The Koran by N.J.Dawood, Harmondsworth, revised edition, 1979, monochrome white and with underglaze blue wares; see for example,
p.63.) a blue and white ewer with a design of children playing, Jiajing, in the
Percival David collection in the British Museum, illustrated by R.Scott
The present lot is extremely rare, and there are only two known and R.Kerr, Ceramic Evolution in the Middle Ming Period, London,
blue and white ewers of this type with decoration of dragons and 1994, p.30, no.51.
Qianlong mark published. One is in the collection of the Topkapi Saray,
Istanbul, illustrated by J.Ayers and R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the The Western Asian metal mounts on the present ewer vessel suggest
Topkapi Saray Museum Istanbul, vol.3, London, 1986, pp.1106-1107, that the ewer was previously in a Western Asian collection. The chased
no.2566. See also a ewer from the Roemer-Museum in Hildesheim decoration on the mounts is Qajar Persian dating to the 19th century.
illustrated by U.Wiesner, Chinesisches Porzellan: Die Ohlmer’sche Compare with a blue and white ewer, Kangxi, which displays a similar
Sammlung im Roemer-Museum, Mainz am Rhein, 1981, no.70. mount and cover, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc.
no.476.18-6). See also a 15th century blue and white ewer from the
Topkapi Saray museum, Instanbul, fitted with a related but lesser
rounded metal cover; see ibid., p.519, no.618.

A pair of similar ewers with handles and covers, Qianlong, was sold at
Sotheby’s, Hong Kong, 1 May 2001, lot 537.

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