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Lot Essay
Although the kilns at Jizhou in southern Jiangxi province are usually associated with brown wares and painted wares, very attractive white wares were also produced there in the Yuan period. These had a greyish-white porcellanous body, in contrast to the buff body used for the other Jizhou wares. Some of these white wares had molded decoration, while others, like the Falk box, were decorated using an unusual cut-glaze technique. This technique was used on both black-glazed and white-glazed wares at the Jizhou kilns, often to apply the same rather romantic motif, namely a branch of prunus blossom. On the white domed boxes, this prunus branch is usually accompanied by a crescent moon.
The design was cut out from heavy paper and was lightly stuck to the surface of the vessel. The box or vase was then covered in glaze, over the top of the paper. Before the glaze had time to dry, the paper-cut was peeled off, taking the glaze with it. On the black-glazed wares this left the pale body of the vessel exposed and contrasting with the dark glaze. On the white pieces the effect was more subtle, leaving a pale matte design contrasting with the shiny white glaze surrounding it. The same subtelty was used for the addition of decorative details on the white wares. On the dark-glazed wares these were usually painted onto the pale body in dark slip. On the white-glazed pieces, like the Falk box, they were usually incised into the pale body with a fine point.
A slightly smaller box of this type is illustrated by B. Gyllensvärd in Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, p. 157, no. 503.
The design was cut out from heavy paper and was lightly stuck to the surface of the vessel. The box or vase was then covered in glaze, over the top of the paper. Before the glaze had time to dry, the paper-cut was peeled off, taking the glaze with it. On the black-glazed wares this left the pale body of the vessel exposed and contrasting with the dark glaze. On the white pieces the effect was more subtle, leaving a pale matte design contrasting with the shiny white glaze surrounding it. The same subtelty was used for the addition of decorative details on the white wares. On the dark-glazed wares these were usually painted onto the pale body in dark slip. On the white-glazed pieces, like the Falk box, they were usually incised into the pale body with a fine point.
A slightly smaller box of this type is illustrated by B. Gyllensvärd in Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, p. 157, no. 503.