Lot 3020. A fine and extremely rare blue and white 'Tibetan' bowl, Mark and period of Xuande (1426-1435); 15 cm, 5 7/8  in. Estimate 8,000,000 - 12,000,000 HKD. Lot sold 9,640,000 HKD. Photo Sotheby's

finely potted with deep rounded sides rising from a narrow slightly tapered foot, freely painted in deep tones of cobalt accented with 'heaping and piling', the exterior with a composite scroll alternating between eight flowers including lotus, carnations, and another bloom with pointed petals, all wreathed by a continuous meandering foliate stem, between a border of lappets enclosing trefoils around the base and a crested foliate band at the rim, all divided by double-line borders, the interior decorated with a central six-petalled bloom surrounded by two radiating six-pointed starbursts of overlapping strapwork, below a deftly inscribed row of Tibetan characters on the interior walls and a continuous foliate scroll of sprouting lotus buds at the rim, the slightly convex base notably inscribed in underglaze blue with a vertical six-character Xuande mark within a double-rectangular cartouche

PROVENANCE: An old Japanese collection.
Nagoya Bijutsu Club auction sale, lot 646, on the 14th year of the Showa reign (1939).
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 23rd October 2005, lot 338.

NOTE DE CATALOGUE: Amongst Xuande mark and period vessels, this bowl is unique for the combination of the decoration and the vertical reign mark found on its base. No other similar example appears to be recorded, although it is related in form and style to contemporaneous bowls decorated with billows and lotus scrolls such as the piece included in the Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1998, cat. no. 64; another published in a Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum. Hsuan-te Ware I, Taipei, 2000, pl. 105; a third bowl sold in these rooms, 31st October 2004, lot 161, from the collection of Hugh Moss and exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1972, no. 138 (by repute); and one offered in our London rooms, 7th November 2012, lot 321.

Painted in soft blue with a distinct ‘heaping and piling’ effect of darker-burnt spots of cobalt that is characteristic of the period, the present piece stands out for its rarity as well as its elegant shape and rich decoration. Vertical Xuande reign marks can be found painted on the interior of short stem-bowls, such as the white-glazed anhua decorated piece illustrated in Special Exhibition of Selected Hsuan-te Imperial Porcelains of the Ming Dynasty, op. cit., cat. no. 115;
and on an underglaze-blue decorated stembowl, ibid., cat. no. 116. The mark is also seen on the spout of a Xuande teapot included in Gugong bowuyuan cang, Ming chu qinghua ci [Early Ming Porcelains in the Palace Museum, Beijing], vol. 1, Beijing, 2002, pl. 97; and on a fragment of a water-dropper spout (liu) with a dragon head illustrated in Xuande Imperial Porcelain Excavated at Jingdezhen, Taipei, 1998, pl. F8.

The main decoration on the body, comprising a continuous looping foliate scroll issuing alternately Indian lotus blooms and other flowers, is attractive and rare. It reflects the artist’s talent in creating a motif that is recognizable yet different at the same time. Some elements of this unusual ‘flower combination’ design may be found on a Xuande mark and period bowl, from the Frederick M. Mayer and the Leshantang collections, and last sold in these rooms, 11th April 2008, lot 2512. The bowl is painted with the rare combination of interchanging flowers resembling variations of lotus and carnation, both symbols of prosperity and longevity. See also a Xuande blue-and-white flask painted with a flower scroll motif published in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan. Taoci juan, [Compendium of Chinese Archaelogical Treasures: ceramics], Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 677, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing.

The Tibetan script adorning the interior of the vessel is a Buddhist invocation or mantra taken from one of the sutra texts. This type of mantra was chanted repeatedly as the production of the sound vibration was thought to have ‘transforming’ powers. The Xuande Emperor was especially fond of this auspicious invocation and had it woven into presentation scarves, embroidered onto thankas and inscribed on porcelain. It may be translated as follows:

May there be peace and tranquillity by day.
May there be peace and tranquillity by night.May there be peace and tranquillity at mid-day.
Unceasing peace and tranquillity to all, day and night.
May the ‘Three Jewels’ (Buddha, Dharma and Sangha) ensure peace and tranquillity!

For further information on Xuande wares decorated with the Tibetan script see Hajni Elias, ‘Chinese ‘Monk’s Cap’ Ewers: A Story of Religious, Political and Cultural Relations’ , Arts of Asia, vol. 43, no. 2, March-April, 2013, pp. 100-109.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Hong Kong | 08 avr. 2013