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Lot Essay
The duomuhu shape is derived from a Tibetan prototype, the bey lep, which was used for storing milk tea in lamaist monasteries. It had a long history in China beginning in the Yuan dynasty when the religion first became adopted under Kublai Khan. Cf. a yinqing ewer of this form excavated from a Yuan site now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Cidian, Ceramics, no. 614. In the early 15th century, the Emperor Yongle sent important gifts of porcelain for lamaist rituals to Tibet. In the 18th century, a pair of exotic Chinese porcelain ewers of this form with aubergine glaze was mounted in ormolu for Marie Antoinette for her private chambers in 1783.
Although no other example of duomuhu ewer with the spout and the handle modelled as elephant heads appears to be published, one can compare the current piece with two other cloisonné enamel tall monk's cap ewers from the 17th century. One illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonné - Die Sammelung Pierre Uldry, Museum Rietberg, Zurich 1985, pl.159; and the other, by Dr. G. G. Avitabile, Die Ware aus dem Teufelsland, Germany, 1981, pl.59. These examples, are enamelled with similar designs of dragons chasing 'flaming pearls', but both the handle and the spout are in a shape of dragons.
Although no other example of duomuhu ewer with the spout and the handle modelled as elephant heads appears to be published, one can compare the current piece with two other cloisonné enamel tall monk's cap ewers from the 17th century. One illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinesisches Cloisonné - Die Sammelung Pierre Uldry, Museum Rietberg, Zurich 1985, pl.159; and the other, by Dr. G. G. Avitabile, Die Ware aus dem Teufelsland, Germany, 1981, pl.59. These examples, are enamelled with similar designs of dragons chasing 'flaming pearls', but both the handle and the spout are in a shape of dragons.