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Lot Essay
The remarkable glaze seen on this ewer was the result of innovation and experimentation carried out at kilns in north China during the Tang dynasty. This was the first period in which really good black glazes were applied to high-fired stonewares in north China. N. Wood in Chinese Glazes, London, 1999, p. 140-1, has suggested that this was due to the use of loessic clays, which contained a naturally balanced percentage of iron oxide and fluxes, which gave a good black or dark brown, glossy glaze when fired at temperatures of 1260-1300 C. The dramatic effect of opalescent grey-blue splashes on a black or dark brown glaze was achieved by splashing or pouring an ash-rich mixture onto the raw black glaze before it was fired.
Several northern Chinese kilns made these spectacular splashed blackwares. The most famous of these are the Duandian kiln at Lushan in Henan province, the Huangdao kiln, near Jiaxian, also in Henan, and the Gongxian kilns from the same province. Stonewares of this type are now known also to have been made at the Yaozhou kilns at Tongchuan in Shaanxi province, and even at the Rongxian kilns in Guangxi, which copied various Yaozhou wares. Remnants of a short-necked, short-spouted ewer have been found at the Gongxian kilns and illustrated by P. Hughes-Stanton and R. Kerr in Kiln Sites of Ancient China, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1980, p. 153, no. 369. Fragments of two drums, a jar and a short-necked, short-spouted ewer with this glaze found at the Duandian kiln at Lushan in 1989 were exhibited in Hong Kong at the University Museum and Art Gallery, Ceramic Finds from Henan, University of Hong Kong, 1997, p. 121, no. 92. A complete drum of this type is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated with a splashed covered jar in Sekai toji zenshu, M. Sato and G. Hasabe (eds.), vol. 11, Sui Tang, Tokyo, 1976, p. 118, nos. 97 and 96, repectively.
Other black/dark brown-splashed ewers are known, but these are usually of the short-necked, short-spouted form with ovoid body, like that found at Gongxian, and the one illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, p. 155, no. 147. The Falk ewer, however, is of the more elegant, long-necked form with pinched mouth. Both the pinched mouth and the beautifully potted, almost spherical, body of the Falk vessel are typical of fine Tang dynasty ceramics of the 8th and 9th centuries. Completely spherical bodies and pinched mouths can, for example, be seen on the famous black-glazed, high-footed ewer with dragon handle in the Hakone Art Museum and the high-footed, sancai ewer in the Tokyo National Museum, both of which are illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, op. cit., nos. 28 and 226, respectively.
Several northern Chinese kilns made these spectacular splashed blackwares. The most famous of these are the Duandian kiln at Lushan in Henan province, the Huangdao kiln, near Jiaxian, also in Henan, and the Gongxian kilns from the same province. Stonewares of this type are now known also to have been made at the Yaozhou kilns at Tongchuan in Shaanxi province, and even at the Rongxian kilns in Guangxi, which copied various Yaozhou wares. Remnants of a short-necked, short-spouted ewer have been found at the Gongxian kilns and illustrated by P. Hughes-Stanton and R. Kerr in Kiln Sites of Ancient China, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1980, p. 153, no. 369. Fragments of two drums, a jar and a short-necked, short-spouted ewer with this glaze found at the Duandian kiln at Lushan in 1989 were exhibited in Hong Kong at the University Museum and Art Gallery, Ceramic Finds from Henan, University of Hong Kong, 1997, p. 121, no. 92. A complete drum of this type is in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, and illustrated with a splashed covered jar in Sekai toji zenshu, M. Sato and G. Hasabe (eds.), vol. 11, Sui Tang, Tokyo, 1976, p. 118, nos. 97 and 96, repectively.
Other black/dark brown-splashed ewers are known, but these are usually of the short-necked, short-spouted form with ovoid body, like that found at Gongxian, and the one illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, p. 155, no. 147. The Falk ewer, however, is of the more elegant, long-necked form with pinched mouth. Both the pinched mouth and the beautifully potted, almost spherical, body of the Falk vessel are typical of fine Tang dynasty ceramics of the 8th and 9th centuries. Completely spherical bodies and pinched mouths can, for example, be seen on the famous black-glazed, high-footed ewer with dragon handle in the Hakone Art Museum and the high-footed, sancai ewer in the Tokyo National Museum, both of which are illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, op. cit., nos. 28 and 226, respectively.