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Lot Essay
This handsome vase is a classic example of the well-proportioned yuhuchunping (pear-shaped vase) made at Jingdezhen in the Yuan dynasty. These are characterized by a swelling lower body tapering to a narrow neck before flaring to a wide trumpet mouth, which produce an elegant S-shaped profile. The glaze on this vase is the so-called shufu glaze, which developed in the Yuan dynasty as a variant of the qingbai glaze. The shufu glaze is slightly more opaque than qingbai and has a silky texture rather than a glassy surface. The name shufu derives from the fact that a number of wares with this glaze have the two characters shu and fu in low relief on their interior. It is believed that these were intended for use by a Yuan dynasty government department, the Shumiyuan, which is normally equated with a Privy Council.
The incised decoration on this vase is arranged in horizontal bands, laid out in the way that was to be transferred to vessels painted in underglaze red and in a more complex form to those with underglaze blue. This can be seen by comparing vases such as the Falk vase with the underglaze red-decorated vase excavated from Gao'an in Jiangxi province, illustrated by Wang Qingzheng in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 30. The shufu vases are divided into three decorative bands by pairs of parallel lines incised around the body. One band is around the lower part of the neck, and this area is usually decorated with overlapping plantain leaves. The main decorative band is below this and reaches to the widest part of the vase, and is usually decorated with floral motifs, as in the case of the Falk vase, or a three-clawed dragon. The band from the widest part of the vessel to the foot is sometimes left undecorated, as on the Falk vase, or has petal panels, as on the slightly larger dragon vase in the Chinese History Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, 16, Song Yuan Qingbaici, Shanghai, 1984, no. 125.
In the exhibition Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368), held at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1968, three variants of this form were displayed together, and at that time were described as qingbai. One of these was the Falk vase (exhibit no. 101), another with dragon design was from the Royal Ontario Museum (exhibit no. 100), and the third was a vase with molded floral decoration from the Bristol City Art Gallery (exhibit no. 102).
These pear-shaped vases were admired within China, but they were also popular in other parts of East Asia, as can be seen by their inclusion in the cargo of the merchant ship that foundered off the Sinan coast of Korea in AD 1323 on its way to Japan. A number of these shufu pear-shaped vases were excavated from this wreck and were exhibited and published by the National Museum of Korea in the Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, Seoul, 1977, pp. 158-161.
The incised decoration on this vase is arranged in horizontal bands, laid out in the way that was to be transferred to vessels painted in underglaze red and in a more complex form to those with underglaze blue. This can be seen by comparing vases such as the Falk vase with the underglaze red-decorated vase excavated from Gao'an in Jiangxi province, illustrated by Wang Qingzheng in Underglaze Blue and Red, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 30. The shufu vases are divided into three decorative bands by pairs of parallel lines incised around the body. One band is around the lower part of the neck, and this area is usually decorated with overlapping plantain leaves. The main decorative band is below this and reaches to the widest part of the vase, and is usually decorated with floral motifs, as in the case of the Falk vase, or a three-clawed dragon. The band from the widest part of the vessel to the foot is sometimes left undecorated, as on the Falk vase, or has petal panels, as on the slightly larger dragon vase in the Chinese History Museum, illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, 16, Song Yuan Qingbaici, Shanghai, 1984, no. 125.
In the exhibition Chinese Art Under the Mongols: The Yüan Dynasty (1279-1368), held at the Cleveland Museum of Art in 1968, three variants of this form were displayed together, and at that time were described as qingbai. One of these was the Falk vase (exhibit no. 101), another with dragon design was from the Royal Ontario Museum (exhibit no. 100), and the third was a vase with molded floral decoration from the Bristol City Art Gallery (exhibit no. 102).
These pear-shaped vases were admired within China, but they were also popular in other parts of East Asia, as can be seen by their inclusion in the cargo of the merchant ship that foundered off the Sinan coast of Korea in AD 1323 on its way to Japan. A number of these shufu pear-shaped vases were excavated from this wreck and were exhibited and published by the National Museum of Korea in the Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off the Sinan Coast, Seoul, 1977, pp. 158-161.