.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
It is exceedingly rare to find a painted Cizhou deep bowl decorated entirely with butterflies, as seen on this elegant deep bowl. This design of butterflies appears to be on only two other published examples: one illustrated by Hasebe Gakuji, Toki Zenshu, 13, So No Jishuyo (Ceramics Anthology, 13, Song Cizhou ware), Tokyo, 1958, no. 35, and the other of slightly smaller size in the Umezawa Collection, illustrated by Hasebe Gakuji, ed., Toji Taikei 39: Jishu Yo (Compendium of Ceramics 39: Cizhou Wares), Tokyo, 1974, no. 58.
This well-potted deep bowl set on a small-diameter straight foot is one of the most elegant forms produced at the Cizhou kilns, and appears to have been particularly popular during the Jin period. The form was decorated in a number of different styles, but in all cases, including the present example, the foot and the lower part of the exterior were neither glazed nor covered in slip, and the pale beige color of the clay contrasts with the creamy white of the rest of the vessel. The interior and the upper part of the exterior have a white slip covered with a colorless, transparent glaze.
Deep bowls of this type have been excavated from the Guantai kilns in Cixian, Hebei province. Some of these were left plain white, such as the example illustrated in Beijing Daxue Kaogu Xuesi, Guantai Cizhou yaozhi, Wenwu chubanshe, Beijing, 1997, color pl. VI, no. 2, or decorated with linear sgraffiato designs incised through the slip to reveal the body beneath, ibid., color pl. VI no. 1, monochrome pl. XIII, no. 4. The majority of the deep bowls, both excavated and preserved in collections, are decorated with bold designs painted in black or dark brown slip (see ibid., color pl. VI, no. 3, monochrome pl. XIII, no. 3, left and right, pl. XIV, no. 1; and Yutaka Mino, Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1980, pp. 152-3, pl. 64, figs. 170, 171, 173). The most effectively decorated are those, like the current bowl, which have bold black painted decorative motifs, on which details have been incised through the black slip to reveal the white slip beneath, see Guantai Cizhou yaozhi, op. cit., monochrome pl. XIII, no. 3, center.
Many of the most appealing decorative themes seen on deep bowls decorated using this technique are inspired by the natural world: for example, a striking bowl decorated with fish with cross-hatched scales, also from the Linyushanren Collection, was sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2016, lot 710. Another popular decorative theme was flowers and plants, as seen on the bowl illustrated by Mikami Tsugio, Sekai Toji Zenshu (Ceramic Art of the World), vol. 13: Liao, Chin and Yüan Dynasties, Tokyo, 1981, p. 237, no. 245. Some of these have the addition of butterflies, such as the examples illustrated ibid. p. 237, nos. 244 and 248.
This well-potted deep bowl set on a small-diameter straight foot is one of the most elegant forms produced at the Cizhou kilns, and appears to have been particularly popular during the Jin period. The form was decorated in a number of different styles, but in all cases, including the present example, the foot and the lower part of the exterior were neither glazed nor covered in slip, and the pale beige color of the clay contrasts with the creamy white of the rest of the vessel. The interior and the upper part of the exterior have a white slip covered with a colorless, transparent glaze.
Deep bowls of this type have been excavated from the Guantai kilns in Cixian, Hebei province. Some of these were left plain white, such as the example illustrated in Beijing Daxue Kaogu Xuesi, Guantai Cizhou yaozhi, Wenwu chubanshe, Beijing, 1997, color pl. VI, no. 2, or decorated with linear sgraffiato designs incised through the slip to reveal the body beneath, ibid., color pl. VI no. 1, monochrome pl. XIII, no. 4. The majority of the deep bowls, both excavated and preserved in collections, are decorated with bold designs painted in black or dark brown slip (see ibid., color pl. VI, no. 3, monochrome pl. XIII, no. 3, left and right, pl. XIV, no. 1; and Yutaka Mino, Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1980, pp. 152-3, pl. 64, figs. 170, 171, 173). The most effectively decorated are those, like the current bowl, which have bold black painted decorative motifs, on which details have been incised through the black slip to reveal the white slip beneath, see Guantai Cizhou yaozhi, op. cit., monochrome pl. XIII, no. 3, center.
Many of the most appealing decorative themes seen on deep bowls decorated using this technique are inspired by the natural world: for example, a striking bowl decorated with fish with cross-hatched scales, also from the Linyushanren Collection, was sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2016, lot 710. Another popular decorative theme was flowers and plants, as seen on the bowl illustrated by Mikami Tsugio, Sekai Toji Zenshu (Ceramic Art of the World), vol. 13: Liao, Chin and Yüan Dynasties, Tokyo, 1981, p. 237, no. 245. Some of these have the addition of butterflies, such as the examples illustrated ibid. p. 237, nos. 244 and 248.