NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 11TH-12TH CENTURY

The use of stands was a practical development for the drinking of hot liquid from tea bowls without handles. In the Zu xia lu (Record of Leisurely Enjoyment) the 9th century author Li Kuangyi states that the first bowl stands were made in the Jianzong reign (AD 780-83). However, the earliest bowl stand excavated to date comes from a Jin dynasty tomb in Changsha, Hunan province. Certainly by the Song dynasty bowl stands were very popular in both lacquer and ceramics. The lacquer bowls and bowl stands were very costly, and so ceramics which copied the color and texture of lacquer were much appreciated. The Falk bowl and bowl stand have the color and glossy texture of black lacquer.

A matching black lacquer bowl and bowl stand excavated from a Southern Song tomb in Jiangsu province are illustrated in Zhongguo Qiqi Chuanji, 4, Fuzhou, 1998, p. 151, no. 136. These vessels have metal-bound rims, and it may be that the pale rims on the Falk stoneware bowl and stand were intended to imitate such bands. A northern Chinese black stoneware bowl on a black lacquer stand, dated by inscription to AD 1034 or 1094, is illustrated in Chinese Art and Design, R. Kerr (ed.), Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1991, p. 181, pl. 82. Black bowl stands were not always used with black bowls, and several early paintings showing the use of dark bowl stands depict them used with pale-colored porcelain bowls. However, black tea bowls became particularly popular in the Song dynasty following new tea-drinking fashions.