Lot 44: Blue and White Monk’s Cap Ewer with Eight Auspicious Symbols 青花莲托八宝纹僧帽壶

来源：于八十年代购自香港古玩街古董商店
Provenance: Acquired from an antique shop on Hong Kong’s Antique Street in the 1980s

Diameter 口径 24 cm Height 高 24 cm Foot Diameter 足径 8.8 cm

Estimate 估价: SGD 1,200,000 – SGD 2,000,000
Starting Price 起拍价: SGD 900,000

该器名为“僧帽壶”，以其壶口形似僧帽而得名。器口前低后高，成三层台阶形，流背伸似鸭嘴，润颈、鼓腹、圈足、扁曲柄，两端作如意形饰，一端贴于腹间，一端贴于帽沿并有突棱竖起与口沿平立。壶盖卧于口沿内，附宝珠钮。盖面三层呈伞状，壶里口一侧安一小圆系，为系壶盖用。全器用青花装饰，器内外口沿均饰缠枝灵芝纹，颈部饰莲托八吉祥纹，流饰缠枝灵芝纹。肩绘如意云头纹，内填绘折枝莲。腹部书藏文吉祥经文一周，意为：“日平安，夜平安，阳光普照皆平安。日夜永远平安泰，三宝（佛、法、僧）护佑永平安。”底边饰变形莲瓣纹一周，内填折枝灵芝纹。底部以青花书双圈“大明宣德年制”六字双行楷书款。

The vessel is known as a “monk’s-cap ewer”, so named because the mouth resembles a monk’s cap. The mouth is lower at the front and higher at the back, formed in three stepped tiers. The spout projects from the back like a duck’s beak. The ewer has a rounded neck, a globular body, a ring foot and a flattened curved handle, the two ends of which are shaped with ruyi-form terminals: one end is attached to the body, while the other is joined to the cap-shaped rim, with a raised vertical ridge rising level with the mouth rim.

The cover rests within the rim and is surmounted by a jewel-shaped knop. The cover is formed in three umbrella-like tiers. A small circular loop is attached to the inside of the mouth on one side, used for securing the cover.

The entire vessel is decorated in underglaze blue. The inner and outer mouth rims are painted with scrolling lingzhi. The neck is decorated with lotus-supported Eight Buddhist Emblems, while the spout is painted with scrolling lingzhi. The shoulder is painted with ruyi-cloud heads enclosing sprays of lotus. Around the body is an inscription in Tibetan script, an auspicious prayer meaning: “Peace by day, peace by night; peace wherever the sunlight shines. May peace endure forever, day and night; may the Three Jewels—the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha—bestow eternal protection and peace.”

The lower border is decorated with a band of stylised lotus petals enclosing sprays of lingzhi. The base is inscribed in underglaze blue, within double circles, with a six-character mark in two vertical lines in regular script: “Da Ming Xuande nian zhi” — “Made in the Xuande reign of the Great Ming dynasty.”