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Lot Essay
White monochrome cloisonne enamels appear to be very rare and few other examples appear to have been published. A closely related white monochrome basin in the Brooklyn Museum of Art, decorated with the same design of the Bajixiang amidst scrolling foliage was included in the exhibition Cloisonne: Chinese Enamels from the Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, Bard Graduate Center, New York, 2011 and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 95 (and illustrated as details inside the covers). Interestingly the authors mention the existence of five monochrome white cloisonne enamel ritual vessels in the Fanhua Pavilion in the Forbidden City which are supported on dishes bearing Qianlong four-character marks.
The form of the duomuhu is also very rare among closionne wares. Two comparable cloisonne enamel tall ewers from the 17th century are published, one illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloissone: The Pierre Uldry Collection, Zurich, 1989, pl. 159; and the other, by Dr. G. G. Avitabile, Die Ware aus dem Teufelsland, Germany, 1981, pl. 59. These examples, however, are enamelled with designs of dragons chasing 'flaming pearls'.
The duomuhu shape is derived from a Tibetan prototype, the bey lep, which was used for storing milk tea in Lamaist monasteries. It has a long history in China beginning in the Yuan dynasty when the religion first was adopted under Kublai Khan. A qingbai ewer of this form excavated from a Yuan site is now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Cidian, Ceramics, no. 614. The columnar Tibetan ewer does not appear to have been favoured during the Ming dynasty, even during reigns when Tibetan Buddhism flourished. However, during the Qing dynasty Kangxi Emperor, and his renewal of interest in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, vessels of this duomu ewer form appeared in metalwork and in porcelain, usually decorated with enamels. The Tibetan name for this type of vessel means 'container for butter', but they were also used for milk and wine.
The form of the duomuhu is also very rare among closionne wares. Two comparable cloisonne enamel tall ewers from the 17th century are published, one illustrated by H. Brinker and A. Lutz, Chinese Cloissone: The Pierre Uldry Collection, Zurich, 1989, pl. 159; and the other, by Dr. G. G. Avitabile, Die Ware aus dem Teufelsland, Germany, 1981, pl. 59. These examples, however, are enamelled with designs of dragons chasing 'flaming pearls'.
The duomuhu shape is derived from a Tibetan prototype, the bey lep, which was used for storing milk tea in Lamaist monasteries. It has a long history in China beginning in the Yuan dynasty when the religion first was adopted under Kublai Khan. A qingbai ewer of this form excavated from a Yuan site is now in the Capital Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Da Cidian, Ceramics, no. 614. The columnar Tibetan ewer does not appear to have been favoured during the Ming dynasty, even during reigns when Tibetan Buddhism flourished. However, during the Qing dynasty Kangxi Emperor, and his renewal of interest in Tibet and Tibetan Buddhism, vessels of this duomu ewer form appeared in metalwork and in porcelain, usually decorated with enamels. The Tibetan name for this type of vessel means 'container for butter', but they were also used for milk and wine.