100.
A ‘BLUE AND WHITE’ EWER, DUOMUHU
Qing dynasty, Kangxi period, early 18th century
33,3 cm high
Provenance: Naples, Villa della Floridiana, Museo Duca di Martina, Placido de Sangro (1829-1891) collection.
inv. n. 3586.
The cylindrical ewer is divided in three sections by three series of parallel ribs, the upper section moulded as a tiara with lobed profile, the curved spout coming out from a dragon head, to the opposite side a pair of pierced lion heads to be used as rings for a leather or fabric handle, the external surface of the container decorated with mythical sea-horses (hai ma) and prunus flower heads on a ground of waves and spyrals.
The columnar shape of this ewer is inspired by similar metal or wooden containers made in Tibet (bey lep), where they were used to hold butter, milk or wine. Known with the alternative terms of duomu and liammu, it entered in the repertory of Chinese ceramists from the late Ming dynasty, becoming very popular during the reign of the emperor Kangxi, used not only for porcelain but also for lacquer and metalwork. Ewers with this shape and the same decoration could be also found with ‘Famille Verte’ enamels on biscuit (see the example in the Koger Collection: J. Ayers, Chinese Ceramics. The Koger Collection, London 1985, n. 98).
The decoration on this ewer, with horses galloping amidst clouds stylized as spirals and waves, is a reference to the “heavenly horses” (tianma), those superior horses greatly admired by the emperor Wudi (reign 141-87 BC) who knew them thanks to the emissary Zhang Qian who in those years made a mission to Central Asia. In the Ferghana Valley the traveller saw an exceptional race of horses, which seems to sweat blood, as reported by Yang Shigu (581-645) in the Qian Hanshu, a later annotated history of the Han dynasty (M. Guglielminotti Trivel, Cavalli celesti. Raffigurazioni equestri nella Cina antica, exhibition catalogue (Turin), Cinisello Balsamo 2014, p. 25).
