AN EXTREMELY RARE WHITE 'MONK'S CAP' EWER INCISED WITH LOTUS AND TIBETAN INSCRIPTION, SENGMAOHU MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD

the compressed globular body supported on a low slightly splayed foot, surmounted by a flaring cylindrical neck and a stepped, galleried 'monk's cap' collar with a small loop on the inside to attach a cover, set with a deep channelled spout opposite a curved strap handle with a raised ridge down the centre and a ruyi-head tab and terminal, finely incised around the centre with a band of lança script, between tall petal lappets enclosing lingzhi above the foot, and cloud motifs enclosing lotus sprays around the shoulder, all below an elaborate lotus scroll collaring the neck, and vertical lingzhi sprays on either side of the spout, the handle and on the exterior of the collar, the inner rim further incised with scrolling lotus and the foot decorated with a 'classic' scroll band, the ewer applied overall with an unctuous 'sweet-white' (tianbai) glaze

Christie’s London, 12th June 1989, lot 170.

Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, The British Museum, London, 1994.

Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994-2010, vol. 2, no. 650.

There is a 2.5 cm. hairline crack to the rear of the rim near the handle. The spout is restored on an approx. 2 cm section at its extremity. There is a 3 cm hairline crack at the rim on one side of the spout, and two others of approx. 2 and 1 cm slightly below. There is crack encircling the base of the spout, and a small radiant firing crack on the foot ring.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

TIBETAN WISHES FOR PEACE AND TRANQUILLITY
Regina Krahl

 

Monk’s cap ewers derive their shape from Tibetan ewers made of metal or wood that were used in Buddhist ceremonies. They may have been placed in front of Buddhist altars filled with provisions or with water for use in ablutions, as is suggested in a somewhat later Tibetan painted textile depicting Avalokiteshvara and other deities with an altar in front, where bowls of fruit, a flower vase, covered pear-shaped bottles and a monk's cap ewer have been placed; see the exhibition catalogue Defining Yongle. Imperial Art in Early Fifteenth-Century China, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005, pl. 36 (fig. 1).

Ewers of this form appear to have been produced in porcelain since the Yuan dynasty (AD 1279-1368) and became a standard vessel shape of the imperial kilns in the Yongle (AD 1403-24) reign, when the emperor actively supported Tibetan Buddhism. In AD 1407 he invited the most influential Tibetan lama, Halima (AD 1384-1415) of the Karma-pa sect to the capital Nanjing to perform religious services for his deceased parents, and on the occasion commissioned lavish gifts for him from the imperial workshops. More than fifty porcelain ewers of this form were recovered from stratum five of the Yongle waste heaps of the Ming imperial kiln site, believed to date from around AD 1407, among them white pieces with incised Tibetan inscriptions like the present piece, or with other incised decoration or plain; see Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1989, p. 62, where a white monk's cap ewer with flower scrolls from the site is illustrated, cat. no. 8 (fig. 2), and a blue-and-white counterpart with Tibetan inscription of Xuande mark and period, from the Xuande stratum, cat. no. 82.

Monk's cap ewers with Tibetan inscription represent by far the rarest version of this vessel type, more common being undecorated pieces or ones with lotus scroll and the bajixiang, undoubtedly because of the difficulty to find porcelain decorators able to render the Tibetan writing in Jingdezhen. The inscription, which is published in Wenwu 1981, no. 11, p. 76 can be translated:

          Peace and tranquillity by day.
          Peace and tranquillity by night.
          Peace and tranquillity at midday.
          Peace and tranquillity unceasing, by day and by night.
          May the three treasures ensure peace and tranquillity.

For a white Yuan prototype of this form but of different proportions, excavated from a tomb in Haidian district, Beijing, and now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, see Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], Shanghai, 1999-2000, vol. 11, pl. 62 (fig. 3). Line drawings of ewers of this form of Yuan, Yongle, Xuande and Kangxi date, respectively, are compared in Geng Baochang, Ming Qing ciqi jianding [Appraisal of Ming and Qing porcelain], Hong Kong, 1993, p. 25, fig. 38, where another blue-and-white Xuande example is illustrated, p. 45, fig. 75.

A very similar white Yongle porcelain ewer from the collection of Stanley and Adele Herzman was included in the Yongle exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2005, op.cit., pl. 5; one from the Eumorfopoulos collection was sold in our London rooms 30th May 1940, lot 314; another was sold in our New York rooms, 19th November 1982, lot 252; and one at Christie’s Hong Kong, 19th March 1991, lot 532.