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Lot Essay
This guan bowl was reputed to have been in the collection of one of the chief retainers of the Tokugawa Shogunate and hence passed down with the family.
A Rare and Beautiful ‘Heirloom’ Song Dynasty Guan Bowl
Rosemary Scott, Independent Scholar
This beautiful bowl Guan ware 官窯bowl with its rounded sides, six-petal-lobed rim, and lustrous, translucent glaze, enhanced by a delicate russet crackle structure, is a rare reflection of imperial Song aesthetics. The aesthetics of the Northern Song court are usually seen as those linked to the Emperor Huizong徽宗 (r. 1100-1126), who is particularly known as a collector, artist, and aesthete. His legacy to the arts of China was an important one that ranged from the publication of illustrated records of his collection of antiques, to the style of the contemporary art made for his court and temples. Artistic links between Huizong’s legacy and the Southern Song court are particularly significant for the discussion of Guan wares, since it was the refined imperial tastes of the Emperor Huizong, as exemplified by the fine blue-glazed Ru wares 汝窯made for his court, that provided the inspiration for the Guan wares made for the court of the Southern Song emperors.
Under attack from the Jurchen invaders the Emperor Huizong abdicated in January AD 1126, and was succeeded by his eldest son 趙桓Zhao Huan, who ruled as Emperor Qinzong欽宗, until his own abdication in March 1127. However, in June 1127 Huizong’s ninth son趙構Zhao Gou declared himself emperor, at what was then known as the Song’s southern capital at應天府Yingtianfu (modern 商丘Shangqiu) in Henan province. He would become known as Emperor Gaozong高宗. Under further threat from the Jin armies, Emperor Gaozong fled to 臨安Lin’an (modern Hangzhou) in south-eastern Zhejiang province, where he established his ‘travelling palace’ in 1129. This move to the south, known euphemistically as ‘crossing the river’, marks the division of the Northern Song and the Southern Song periods.
When the Song court ‘crossed the river’, that is fled to Hangzhou, the products of the northern kilns were no longer available to them, and, by all accounts, they were unable to bring many vessels with them on their journey south. The famous and revered Ru wares made for the Northern Song Emperor Huizong would have been in short supply at the Southern Song court. Textual evidence makes it clear that Ru wares were greatly valued by Emperor Gaozong, and there was thus a clear desire at the Southern Song court to produce fine ceramics to take their place for use in the palace.
Further textual evidence suggests that in around 1144 imperial kilns were specifically set up in Hangzhou. Two kiln sites producing Guan (official) wares are mentioned in the texts. One of these is the 郊壇下 Jiaotanxia (Beneath the Sacrificial Altar) kiln, which was located by archaeologists on 烏龜山Wuguishan (Turtle Hill) in the suburbs of Hangzhou. However, an earlier kiln is mentioned in literature, and has traditionally been credited with the finest Guan ware. This was referred to as the 修內司Xiuneisi (The Palace Maintenance Office) kiln. Archaeologists have located the site of the Xiuneisi kiln at 老虎洞Laohudong (Tiger Cave) less than 100 metres from the northern wall of the imperial palace of the Southern Song emperors on Phoenix Hill.
In his 負暄雜錄Fuxuan zalu (Miscellaneous Records from Under the Sun) the Southern Song writer顧文荐Gu Wenjian noted that, in addition to being very fine, some of the Guan wares made at the Xiuneisi kiln had ‘claw-marks’ and ‘purple mouth and iron foot’ zikou tiezu 紫口鐵足. This latter feature is due to the use of dark, iron-rich, clay which was revealed where the foot was wiped clean of glaze to allow the vessel to be fired standing on its foot, and which also shows through where the glaze runs thin at the rim of the mouth. It is also stated in Fuxuan zalu that the very refined ceramics from the Xiuneisi kiln were rather similar to the pieces made at the Ru kilns. These features, including the link with Northern Song Ru wares, have all been found in the ceramics excavated from the Southern Song strata at the Laohudong kiln site. Such features - notably the ‘purple mouth and iron foot’ - can also be seen on the bowl in the current sale. The ‘iron foot’ shows clearly on the bowl and although the mouth rim has been adorned with a metal band, it is reasonable to assume that a ‘purple mouth’ is under the band. Several Guan bowls of this type have been preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, nos. 103-7). Some, like the current bowl, have metal-bound rims (fig. 1), but those without metal bands display the characteristic ‘purple mouth’. All except one of the Taipei bowls have been assigned to the Xiuneisi kilns, and it seems likely that the current bowl is from the same kiln site.
A Guan ware bowl of similar form and size to the current bowl presenved in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II) The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 33, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 39, no. 34 (fig. 2). This bowl was part of the Qing court collection and bears a dated Qianlong inscription incised into the glaze on its base. The inscription is dated to the xinchou 辛丑year of Qianlong (equivalent to 1781). This was clearly a shape and size of bowl that the Qianlong Emperor particularly admired, as two similar Guan ware bowls in the collection of Sir Percival David were also singled out by the emperor to have inscriptions applied to their bases - one dated to the equivalent of 1775 and the other to 1778 (see Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares, London (revised edition) 1999, p. 26, nos. 18 and 19). A slightly larger Guan ware bowl of similar shape, and bearing a metal band around its mouth rim, is today in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, where it has been designated an Important Cultural Property (illustrated in Song Ceramics, Osaka, 1999, p. 93, no. 56).
Such bowls were regarded as precious from the time they were made in the 12th-13th century, and were revered by successive generations into the present day. As can be seen from the Qianlong inscriptions discussed above, they were appreciated as treasured antiques by the great imperial Qing dynasty collector, the Qianlong Emperor. However, there is evidence that his father the Yongzheng Emperor also greatly valued such bowls. This is evidenced by the inclusion of bowls of this type in the famous surviving imperial Guwan tu 古玩圖 (Pictures of Ancient Playthings), scrolls of the Yongzheng reign. The scroll in the collection of Sir Percival David dates to 1728, while the scroll in the Victoria and Albert Museum dates to 1729 (fig.3), and both depict several crackle-glazed bowls with six-petal-lobed rims.
In the 21st century Guan ware bowls of this type are extremely rare outside of major international museums. This exceptional bowl has been preserved in a private Japanese collection in Nagoya.
A Rare and Beautiful ‘Heirloom’ Song Dynasty Guan Bowl
Rosemary Scott, Independent Scholar
This beautiful bowl Guan ware 官窯bowl with its rounded sides, six-petal-lobed rim, and lustrous, translucent glaze, enhanced by a delicate russet crackle structure, is a rare reflection of imperial Song aesthetics. The aesthetics of the Northern Song court are usually seen as those linked to the Emperor Huizong徽宗 (r. 1100-1126), who is particularly known as a collector, artist, and aesthete. His legacy to the arts of China was an important one that ranged from the publication of illustrated records of his collection of antiques, to the style of the contemporary art made for his court and temples. Artistic links between Huizong’s legacy and the Southern Song court are particularly significant for the discussion of Guan wares, since it was the refined imperial tastes of the Emperor Huizong, as exemplified by the fine blue-glazed Ru wares 汝窯made for his court, that provided the inspiration for the Guan wares made for the court of the Southern Song emperors.
Under attack from the Jurchen invaders the Emperor Huizong abdicated in January AD 1126, and was succeeded by his eldest son 趙桓Zhao Huan, who ruled as Emperor Qinzong欽宗, until his own abdication in March 1127. However, in June 1127 Huizong’s ninth son趙構Zhao Gou declared himself emperor, at what was then known as the Song’s southern capital at應天府Yingtianfu (modern 商丘Shangqiu) in Henan province. He would become known as Emperor Gaozong高宗. Under further threat from the Jin armies, Emperor Gaozong fled to 臨安Lin’an (modern Hangzhou) in south-eastern Zhejiang province, where he established his ‘travelling palace’ in 1129. This move to the south, known euphemistically as ‘crossing the river’, marks the division of the Northern Song and the Southern Song periods.
When the Song court ‘crossed the river’, that is fled to Hangzhou, the products of the northern kilns were no longer available to them, and, by all accounts, they were unable to bring many vessels with them on their journey south. The famous and revered Ru wares made for the Northern Song Emperor Huizong would have been in short supply at the Southern Song court. Textual evidence makes it clear that Ru wares were greatly valued by Emperor Gaozong, and there was thus a clear desire at the Southern Song court to produce fine ceramics to take their place for use in the palace.
Further textual evidence suggests that in around 1144 imperial kilns were specifically set up in Hangzhou. Two kiln sites producing Guan (official) wares are mentioned in the texts. One of these is the 郊壇下 Jiaotanxia (Beneath the Sacrificial Altar) kiln, which was located by archaeologists on 烏龜山Wuguishan (Turtle Hill) in the suburbs of Hangzhou. However, an earlier kiln is mentioned in literature, and has traditionally been credited with the finest Guan ware. This was referred to as the 修內司Xiuneisi (The Palace Maintenance Office) kiln. Archaeologists have located the site of the Xiuneisi kiln at 老虎洞Laohudong (Tiger Cave) less than 100 metres from the northern wall of the imperial palace of the Southern Song emperors on Phoenix Hill.
In his 負暄雜錄Fuxuan zalu (Miscellaneous Records from Under the Sun) the Southern Song writer顧文荐Gu Wenjian noted that, in addition to being very fine, some of the Guan wares made at the Xiuneisi kiln had ‘claw-marks’ and ‘purple mouth and iron foot’ zikou tiezu 紫口鐵足. This latter feature is due to the use of dark, iron-rich, clay which was revealed where the foot was wiped clean of glaze to allow the vessel to be fired standing on its foot, and which also shows through where the glaze runs thin at the rim of the mouth. It is also stated in Fuxuan zalu that the very refined ceramics from the Xiuneisi kiln were rather similar to the pieces made at the Ru kilns. These features, including the link with Northern Song Ru wares, have all been found in the ceramics excavated from the Southern Song strata at the Laohudong kiln site. Such features - notably the ‘purple mouth and iron foot’ - can also be seen on the bowl in the current sale. The ‘iron foot’ shows clearly on the bowl and although the mouth rim has been adorned with a metal band, it is reasonable to assume that a ‘purple mouth’ is under the band. Several Guan bowls of this type have been preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (illustrated in Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei, 1989, nos. 103-7). Some, like the current bowl, have metal-bound rims (fig. 1), but those without metal bands display the characteristic ‘purple mouth’. All except one of the Taipei bowls have been assigned to the Xiuneisi kilns, and it seems likely that the current bowl is from the same kiln site.
A Guan ware bowl of similar form and size to the current bowl presenved in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II) The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, vol. 33, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 39, no. 34 (fig. 2). This bowl was part of the Qing court collection and bears a dated Qianlong inscription incised into the glaze on its base. The inscription is dated to the xinchou 辛丑year of Qianlong (equivalent to 1781). This was clearly a shape and size of bowl that the Qianlong Emperor particularly admired, as two similar Guan ware bowls in the collection of Sir Percival David were also singled out by the emperor to have inscriptions applied to their bases - one dated to the equivalent of 1775 and the other to 1778 (see Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares, London (revised edition) 1999, p. 26, nos. 18 and 19). A slightly larger Guan ware bowl of similar shape, and bearing a metal band around its mouth rim, is today in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, where it has been designated an Important Cultural Property (illustrated in Song Ceramics, Osaka, 1999, p. 93, no. 56).
Such bowls were regarded as precious from the time they were made in the 12th-13th century, and were revered by successive generations into the present day. As can be seen from the Qianlong inscriptions discussed above, they were appreciated as treasured antiques by the great imperial Qing dynasty collector, the Qianlong Emperor. However, there is evidence that his father the Yongzheng Emperor also greatly valued such bowls. This is evidenced by the inclusion of bowls of this type in the famous surviving imperial Guwan tu 古玩圖 (Pictures of Ancient Playthings), scrolls of the Yongzheng reign. The scroll in the collection of Sir Percival David dates to 1728, while the scroll in the Victoria and Albert Museum dates to 1729 (fig.3), and both depict several crackle-glazed bowls with six-petal-lobed rims.
In the 21st century Guan ware bowls of this type are extremely rare outside of major international museums. This exceptional bowl has been preserved in a private Japanese collection in Nagoya.