57.
EWER
WHITE PORCELAIN DECORATED IN UNDERGLAZE BLUE
JINGDEZHEN KILNS, JIANGXI PROVINCE
MING DYNASTY, ZHENGDE MARK AND PERIOD
(1506–1521), CA. 1520
HEIGHT 18.6 CM; FOOT DIAMETER 7 CM
INV. NO. 99
Ewer with pear-shaped body, high, narrow,
waisted neck, with raised, everted thickened
rim, on an everted foot. The long spout,
faceted and curved at the top, attached
halfway down the body and connected to the
neck with an S-shaped bridge. The large
curved handle, placed at the same height on
the opposite side, has a small ring at the top
used to fasten the chain or cord that held
the lid. Finely potted and partly translucent
porcelain, the two parts of the body carefully
joined together and covered with bluish
glaze, except for the foot ring, where a
double orange line marks the edge of the
glaze.
On each side of the body an underglaze-blue
decoration comprising a circular medallion,
containing an armillary sphere with a band of
illegible characters, framed by four lotus
blossom sprays. On the neck two bands of
decoration: the lower with two C-scrolls
entwined with foliate motifs, one on each
side; the upper with plantain leaves. The
handle, highlighted by blue lines, is
decorated with floral motifs, the spout with
stylized flames and flowers. The foot is filled
with a key fret between two blue double
circles. On the base the four-character mark
Zhengde nian zao
(made in the Zhengde
period), arranged in two columns of two
characters, inside a double square in
underglaze blue.
The armillary sphere, the emblem of King
Manuel I of Portugal, was granted to him
when he was still Duke of Beja, by his
brother-in-law and predecessor, João II.
The armillary sphere was linked to the
fortunate circumstances surrounding his
accession to the throne, as Garcia de
Resende wrote in his
Crónica de D. João II
:
‘… something that appeared a mystery and
a prophecy because it gave him hope of his
royal succession, as in fact happened, and
there were many people then alive, who
were heirs before him, but then they all died,
so that he inherited.’ 1 In addition to the
association between
Esfera
(sphere) and
Espera
(hope), two possible interpretations
of the expression
Espera Mundi
2 and of the
prophetic meaning attributed to João II’s
decision, as described in Resende’s quotation,
Damião de Góis, author of
Chronica d’El-Rei
D. Manuel
, identifies the style of
representation of the sphere with that used
by mathematicians, i.e., astronomers:
At this time D. Emanuel was not married, nor
had he taken an emblem according to the
usage of Princes, so King D. João gave him as
his emblem the figure of the sphere, because
Mathematicians represent the form of
everything in the sky and the earth as with all
other elements, something to amaze, and that
appears not to have lacked a prophetic
mystery, because just as it was ordained
by God that he should be the heir of King
Dom João, so that same king he was to
succeed gave him an emblem whose figure
would demonstrate the acceptance and
assignment already made to him, his heir to
continue after his death in the true action he
144 .
PORCELAIN OF THE YUAN (1279–1368) AND MING (1368–1644) DYNASTIES
Figure 20. King Manuel I, engraving of Book 5 of
Ordenações Manuelinas
(1514)
© ANTT/José António Silva