NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 11TH-12TH CENTURY

This qingbai bowl is finely potted and has a particularly beautiful glaze. Its decoration is also of particular interest. The use of three sprays or roundels spaced around the interior of a bowl or dish became part of the repertoire of the Song potters at the Jingdezhen kilns. Three leaf sprays appear on the interior of a conical bowl, while three bird roundels are carved on the interior of a six-lobed dish, both now in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, 16, Song Yuan Qingbaici, Shanghai, 1984, nos. 106 and 97 respectively. The Falk bowl is important for the particular motif chosen to decorate its interior. The three sprays are in fact bunches of lotus tied with a long-tailed ribbon bow. This motif, which was to become a favorite for painting in underglaze blue on large dishes in the early 15th century, is quite rare on Song dynasty ceramics. However, a molded 12th century Yaozhou celadon dish in the Percival David Foundation also bears three tied lotus bouquets and additionally three characters reading san ba lian (three bunches of lotus).