A rare copper-red-glazed small Ming-style 'monk's cap' ewer and cover, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

13 janvier 2020

A rare copper-red-glazed small Ming-style 'monk's cap' ewer and cover, Kangxi period (1662-1722)

2013_NYR_02689_1204_000(a_rare_copper-red-glazed_small_ming-style_monks_cap_ewer_and_cover_kan)

2013_NYR_02689_1204_001(a_rare_copper-red-glazed_small_ming-style_monks_cap_ewer_and_cover_kan)

Lot 1204. A rare copper-red-glazed small Ming-style 'monk's cap' ewer and cover, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 5½ in. (14 cm.) high. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 109,350. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013

Made in imitation of Xuande prototypes, the ewer has a globular body and an elegantly arched spout that issues from the front of the neck and extends from the galleried 'monk's cap' rim opposite the strap handle that terminates in a ruyi head on the body and is surmounted by a ruyi-head thumbpiece. The slightly domed, fitted cover has a globular finial and a small loop at the back that corresponds to a now-missing loop on the inside of the rim of the ewer. The exterior is covered with a rich glaze of sacrificial red color that thins to white on the raised areas. An apocryphal Xuande mark is on the base.

Provenance: Fong Chow (1923-2012) Collection, New York.

Note: For a similar, but larger (19.6 cm.), copper-red-glazed ewer that also has an apocryphal Xuande mark, but is dated to the Kangxi period, and is illustrated with a Xuande period prototype, see Gugong cong chuan shi ciqi zhenyan duibi - Lidai guyaozhi biaoben tulu, Beijing, 1998, pp. 123 and 122, nos. 97 and 96, respectively. On the Xuande example one can see that the globular body tapers towards the foot, the neck is shorter and flares more towards the rim, the spout has a more pronounced and longer arch, and the steps of the rim have a more rounded profile.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 21 - 22 March 2013, New York, Rockefeller Center