SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)

Details

AN UNUSUAL BROWN-GLAZED PORCELAIN TEA BOWL
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)
The bowl is potted with deep, flaring sides that straighten below the rim, and is covered inside and out with a mottled brownish-black glaze that stops in an irregular line above the foot, exposing the white, porcellaneous body, which also shows through the clear glaze of bluish tint that was applied to the rim, which had been wiped clean. On the exterior the brown glaze bleeds onto the clear glaze but is neatly controlled in a line on the interior.
4 ¾ in. (12.1 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Collection of Ronald W. Longsdorf.
J.J. Lally & Co., New York, May 2013.

Literature

J.J. Lally & Co., Song Dynasty Ceramics: The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection, New York, 2013, no. 56.

Exhibited

New York, J.J. Lally & Co., Song Dynasty Ceramics: The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection, 2013.

Lot Essay

While the heavy potting, grooved mouth rim, shallow angled cut on the lower sides, and treatment of the foot are typical of the tea bowls made at the Jian kilns in Fujian province, the white porcelain body is very unusual and points to another area of production. As noted in the catalogue entry for the present bowl in Song Dynasty Ceramics: The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection, J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2013, no. 56, “Field research has proven that elsewhere in Fujian province, white porcelain wares, mostly with transparent-bluish ‘qingbai’ glaze were in production at Dehua and other kilns during the Southern Song period. No other similar bowl with brown and ‘qingbai’ glazed combined on a porcelain body appears to have been previously published, but Fujian province and the Dehua kilns seem the most likely origin for the present example.”

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