A Rare Jizhou 'Tortoiseshell'-Glazed Small Bowl and Cover

SOUTHERN SONG/YUAN DYNASTY, 12TH-13TH CENTURY

Details

A Rare Jizhou 'Tortoiseshell'-Glazed Small Bowl and Cover
Southern Song/Yuan dynasty, 12th-13th century
The bowl with deep sides rising from a low ring foot, covered inside and out below the unglazed mouth rim with a dark brown glaze streaked and mottled with a buff glaze shading to milky blue, the almost flat cover with a tiny strap handle covered in a similar buff-mottled dark brown glaze, the underside unglazed
3 1/8in. (7.9cm.) across cover
Falk Collection no. 108.

Exhibited

Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown-and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums; New York, China Institute Gallery; Elvehjem Museum of Art, University of Wisconsin, 1995-1997, no. 90.

Lot Essay

The remarkable glaze seen on this charming little bowl and cover was an innovation of the pioneering potters at the Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi province. Known as tortoiseshell glaze, its name was derived supposedly from its similarity to the shell of a warm-water sea turtle known as the hawksbill.

While small covered bowls and jars were produced in large numbers at various kilns throughout the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties, it appears they were very rarely manufactured at the Jizhou kilns, and no other comparable example appears to have been published.

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