KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

The duomuhu shape is derived from a Tibetan prototype, the bey lep (which translates to container for butter) but they were also used for storing milk tea in Lamaist monasteries, as well as wine. It has a long history in China beginning in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), but the columnar form, as in the present lot, does not appear to have been favoured during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). However, renewed interest in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism took place during the early Qing dynasty by the Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722) and vessels of this form started to appear in both metalwork (in particular cloisonné enamel), porcelain and glazed biscuit ware. Both the metal and porcelain duomu ewers continued to be produced during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (1736-1795), who also had a keen interest in Tibetan Buddhism, and these were in many cases made in the Imperial workshops.

Cloisonné enamel ewers of this form dating to the Kangxi period are extremely rare, and to find a pair of such ewers appears even more so. Two almost identical single ewers are published: one is in The Pierre Uldry Collection, illustrated by Helmut Brinker and Albert Lutz, Chinese Cloisonné, The Pierre Uldry Collection, New York, 1989, no. 159; and the other, in the George Walter Vincent Smith Collection and Museum, Springfield, Massachusetts, was exhibited Style and Symbol: Chinese Cloisonné from the Permanent Collection, George Walter Vincent Smith Art Museum, Springfield, Mass., 2000-2001, and also Cloisonné: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, The Bard Graduate Center, New York, 26 January - 17 April 2011, catalogue no. 90.