QIANLONG SIX-CHARACTER SEAL MARK IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE AND OF THE PERIOD (1736-1795)

Monk's-cap ewers were used in ritual ceremonies of the Lamaist sect of Buddhism, and were mostly made in metal. The form was first copied in porcelain during the Yuan dynasty and was particularly popular during the Yongle and Xuande reigns. For a discussion on Yongle ewers of this form, see Liu Xinyuan, Imperial Porcelain of the Yongle and Xuande Periods Excavated from the Site of the Ming Imperial Factory at Jingdezhen, Hong Kong, 1989, Catalogue, pp. 98 and 99. Early 15th-century examples are predominantly found with tianbai glaze, only two examples in red glaze appear to be known, both from the Qing court collection, one with a Qianlong imperial poem carved on the base is now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsüan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, Taipei, 1998, pp. 112-113, no. 29, which also has a wood stand with an inscription indicating that it was in the residence of the Yongzheng Emperor when he was a prince (fig. 1) ; the second is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in the revised Sekai Toji Zenshu, Ming, vol. 14, Tokyo, 1976, no. 32. As suggested by the inscription on the stand, the first ewer is probably the one depicted in one of the Twelve Beauties portraits painted for Prince Yong (fig. 2) between 1709 and 1723.

The 15th-century examples provided the model for Qing potters. For Kangxi red-glazed ewers with Xuande apocryphal marks, see an example in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Monochrome Porcelain, Hong Kong, 1999, p. 25, no. 22; and another sold at Christie’s Paris, 7 December 2007, lot 132. Compare also with a smaller Kangxi ewer without a mark (14 cm.), sold at Christie’s New York, 21 March 2013, lot 1204. The Kangxi ewers have a more globular body and a straighter neck, unlike the Qianlong examples which adhere more closely to the 15th-century prototypes.

Very few other Qianlong-marked red-glazed ewers are known. One nearly identical to the current ewer with a matched cover was included in the Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition catalogue Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, no. 75, subsequently sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 27 April 1998, lot 721; and a smaller one (11.8 cm. high) with cover and gilt highlights in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, was included in the exhibition catalogue Emperor Ch’ien-lung’s Grand Cultural Enterprise, Taipei, 2002, p. 197, no. V-33. Compare also with Qianlong-marked monk’s cap ewers in different glaze colours, two in sacrificial blue glaze, one formerly preserved in the Warehouse of Antiquities at the Jingyang Palace in the Forbidden City, now in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, see Monarchy and Its Buddhist Way: Tibetan-Buddhist Ritual Implements in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1999, p. 213, no. 115; one of larger size （19.3 cm）in the Idemitsu Museum, see Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, no. 954; and a miniature ewer with four-character mark in pale celadon glaze in the Tianminlou Collection, see The S. C. Ko Tianminlou Collection, Part I, no. 158.