A RARE 'SWEET-WHITE' 'MONK'S CAP' EWER MING DYNASTY, YONGLE PERIOD

the compressed globular body rising from a splayed foot to a flared cylindrical neck, surmounted by a galleried 'monk’s cap' rim with a small lug on the interior, the tall spout of semi-circular section extending the full length of the neck, the wide strap handle with a ruyi-shaped terminal and a ruyi-shaped tab on top, applied overall with a rich white glaze

Collection of Mr and Mrs P. McCulloh.
Christie's New York, 19th March 2008, lot 577.

The front section of the spout, approx. 4.5 x 3cm has been restored. The base of the spout with a hairline crack approx. 7 cm long. The ruyi-shaped tab to the top of the handle has been off and restuck with associated painting to the top part of the handle connected to the body. There are some minor iron spots and burst bubbles to the exterior and interior.
"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."

White-glazed 'monk’s cap' ewers were made at the imperial porcelain kilns at Jingdezhen for the Yongle Emperor (1403-24) to be used in Tibetan Buddhist rituals performed either at court in the then capital, Nanjing, or in Tibet proper. The Emperor actively supported Tibetan Buddhism, and in 1407 he invited to the capital the most influential Tibetan lama, Halima (1384-1415) of the Karma-pa sect, to perform religious services for his deceased parents. For this occasion he commissioned lavish gifts from the imperial workshops. More than fifty porcelain ewers of this form, either incised or undecorated, were recovered from stratum five of the Yongle waste heaps of the Ming imperial kilns site, believed to date from around 1407, and are discussed in the catalogue to the exhibition 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; and another in the Tibet Museum, Lhasa, was included in the exhibition Treasures from Snow Mountain. Gems of Tibetan Cultural Relics, Shanghai Museum, Shanghai, 2001, cat. no. 88.

 

'Monk’s cap' ewers derive their shape from Tibetan ewers made of metal or wood, which were probably placed in front of 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 behind an altar set with bowls of fruit, a flower vase, pear-shaped bottles and a monk’s cap ewer, illustrated in the catalogue to the exhibition Defining 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.