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Lot Essay
Examples of Cizhou ewers with similar decoration include one in the Tokyo National Museum, which is illustrated in Song Ceramics, Tokyo, 1999, p. 126, no. 87. A fragment of a vessel decorated in this style was found in 1962 at a kiln site at Quhezhen, Dengfengxian, Henan province, exhibited in Kiln Sites of Ancient China - Recent Finds of Pottery and Porcelain, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1980, p. 155, no. 389. Cizhou wares bearing this distinctive style of floral motif, deeply cut through the white slip on the surface of the vessel using the sgraffiato technique to reveal the buff-coloured clay beneath, tend to be attributed to this kiln site, which was active from the Tang to the Yuan dynasty, and reached its peak of production during the Song dynasty. Interestingly a very similar floral scroll incised in simple lines through the white slip using a fine point can be seen on a Northern Song dynasty pillow excavated in 1989 at the Qingliangsi kiln site at Baofeng, Henan Province. It is illustrated in Ceramic Finds from Henan, University Museum and Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, 1997, p. 83, pl. 54. Qingliangsi was also the site of imperial Ru ware production in the latter years of the Northern Song dynasty.
A large Cizhou vase decorated with a similar stylised floral scroll is in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated by G. Hasebe in Sekai toji zenshu - 12 - Song, Tokyo, 1977, pp. 110-11, no. 109. Another comparable Cizhou vase shape is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 10, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980, colour pl. 11. Other Cizhou vases with similar designs to the current lot include one in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, illustrated by Y. Mino and J. Robinson in Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 186-7, no. 67, another sold in Hong Kong in May 1989 from the British Rail Pension Fund, and another in the Minneapolis Museum of Art, illustrated by Y. Mino in Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Indiana University Press, 1980, p. 42, fig. 16.
The style of floral scroll on the current Cizhou vase, which is characterized by flower heads with narrow sharply cut petals, also appears on early Northern Song ceramics from kilns which were patronized by the court. It can be seen, for example, on the shoulder of a Ding ware vase excavated in 1969 from the so-called 'underground palace' of a pagoda at the Jingzhongyuan Temple at Dingzhou, Hebei province, illustrated in Treasures from the Underground Palaces - Excavated Treasures from Northern Song Pagodas, Dingzhou, Hebei Province, China, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Japan, 1997, no. 88. Along with other treasures, this Ding vase was sealed into the base of the pagoda when it was built in AD 995. A similar floral scroll also appears on a Yaozhou celadon ewer in the collection of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, illustrated by G. Hasebe in op.cit., pl. 187. It is a style of floral decoration that appears to have found particular favour in the early part of the Northern Song dynasty.
Also compare the present lot to a very similarly decorated Cizhou vase sold in our New York rooms, 19 March 2009, lot 508.
A large Cizhou vase decorated with a similar stylised floral scroll is in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated by G. Hasebe in Sekai toji zenshu - 12 - Song, Tokyo, 1977, pp. 110-11, no. 109. Another comparable Cizhou vase shape is in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 10, Tokyo, New York, San Francisco, 1980, colour pl. 11. Other Cizhou vases with similar designs to the current lot include one in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, illustrated by Y. Mino and J. Robinson in Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1983, pp. 186-7, no. 67, another sold in Hong Kong in May 1989 from the British Rail Pension Fund, and another in the Minneapolis Museum of Art, illustrated by Y. Mino in Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Indiana University Press, 1980, p. 42, fig. 16.
The style of floral scroll on the current Cizhou vase, which is characterized by flower heads with narrow sharply cut petals, also appears on early Northern Song ceramics from kilns which were patronized by the court. It can be seen, for example, on the shoulder of a Ding ware vase excavated in 1969 from the so-called 'underground palace' of a pagoda at the Jingzhongyuan Temple at Dingzhou, Hebei province, illustrated in Treasures from the Underground Palaces - Excavated Treasures from Northern Song Pagodas, Dingzhou, Hebei Province, China, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Japan, 1997, no. 88. Along with other treasures, this Ding vase was sealed into the base of the pagoda when it was built in AD 995. A similar floral scroll also appears on a Yaozhou celadon ewer in the collection of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, illustrated by G. Hasebe in op.cit., pl. 187. It is a style of floral decoration that appears to have found particular favour in the early part of the Northern Song dynasty.
Also compare the present lot to a very similarly decorated Cizhou vase sold in our New York rooms, 19 March 2009, lot 508.