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Lot Essay
This magnificent rare wine jar is decorated using a technique employed at several kilns in north China. The technique of fully glazing the vessels and then cutting away or incising the design through the glaze before firing, produced a dramatic design. Such designs owed their impact not only to the contrast between the pale colour of the revealed body material and the rich dark brown of the glaze, but to the contrast between the slightly rough matte texture of the body and the silky gloss of the glaze. Vessels decorated using this technique were made at several kilns producing ceramics in the Cizhou style in Henan and Shanxi provinces. However, stonewares decorated using the same technique but with some stylistic differences were also made at kilns to the northwest in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.
The highpoint of ceramic production in the Ningxia region was under the Xi Xia or Western Xia (AD 1038-1227), a Tibetan-related people, who allied with the Liao to prevent Song incursion into their territory. Indeed the Xi Xia received generous payment from the Song in the latter part of the 11th century in order to keep the peace. In the early 12th century the Xi Xia were attacked by the Song armies, but remained undefeated until conquered by the invading Mongols in AD 1227. The Xi Xia themselves, and the Tanguts, who were the dominant ethnic group within their territory, were both greatly influenced by Chinese culture.
One of the major sites of ceramic production under the Xi Xia was the Lingwu kiln site, 4 km. north of the town of Ciyaobu, Lingwu county, Ningxia, which was excavated in 1984-86. A comprehensive report was published in 1995 by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, entitled Ningxia Lingwu yao fajue baogao. This excavation report provides information that suggests that the current jar may have been produced at the Lingwu kiln site, which produced a range of forms decorated using the cut-glaze technique.
It is interesting to note that incised crosses, similar to the one on the unglazed base of the current jar, have been found incised into both glazed and unglazed areas of bowl base sherds excavated at the Lingwu kiln site, illustrated in the excavation report, op. cit., pls. 143-3 and 143-4. Several aspects of the design of the current jar also link it to wares produced at the Lingwu kiln. Several jar forms from Lingwu, including narrow footed vessels with four ridged strap handles have a pie-crust band around the junction of neck and shoulder, as shown in figure 169 and pl. 100-2.I of the excavation report, op. cit.. This same pls., as well as plates 44 and 50, also illustrates the wide, glaze-free ring on the shoulder of many excavated vessels. These are features shared by the current jar, as are the four ridged strap handles.
The treatment and disposition of the decorative bands on the current jar are also similar to those seen on cut-glazed vessels excavated from the Lingwu kiln. The use of a sketchy vegetal scroll bordered by double fine lines can be seen on a number of excavated pieces, including those shown in pls. 44-3 and 44-4 of the excavation report. The combination of individual sprays of flowers on the shoulders between the lugs, above a main decorative band depicting floral sprays in ogival panels, can be seen in pl. 100-1.I , while this plate and several figures, including figs. 52 and 53, illustrate the similarity of style between the current jar and the excavated wares from Lingwu in the form of the flowers and in the multi-directional striated ground between panels.
The highpoint of ceramic production in the Ningxia region was under the Xi Xia or Western Xia (AD 1038-1227), a Tibetan-related people, who allied with the Liao to prevent Song incursion into their territory. Indeed the Xi Xia received generous payment from the Song in the latter part of the 11th century in order to keep the peace. In the early 12th century the Xi Xia were attacked by the Song armies, but remained undefeated until conquered by the invading Mongols in AD 1227. The Xi Xia themselves, and the Tanguts, who were the dominant ethnic group within their territory, were both greatly influenced by Chinese culture.
One of the major sites of ceramic production under the Xi Xia was the Lingwu kiln site, 4 km. north of the town of Ciyaobu, Lingwu county, Ningxia, which was excavated in 1984-86. A comprehensive report was published in 1995 by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, entitled Ningxia Lingwu yao fajue baogao. This excavation report provides information that suggests that the current jar may have been produced at the Lingwu kiln site, which produced a range of forms decorated using the cut-glaze technique.
It is interesting to note that incised crosses, similar to the one on the unglazed base of the current jar, have been found incised into both glazed and unglazed areas of bowl base sherds excavated at the Lingwu kiln site, illustrated in the excavation report, op. cit., pls. 143-3 and 143-4. Several aspects of the design of the current jar also link it to wares produced at the Lingwu kiln. Several jar forms from Lingwu, including narrow footed vessels with four ridged strap handles have a pie-crust band around the junction of neck and shoulder, as shown in figure 169 and pl. 100-2.I of the excavation report, op. cit.. This same pls., as well as plates 44 and 50, also illustrates the wide, glaze-free ring on the shoulder of many excavated vessels. These are features shared by the current jar, as are the four ridged strap handles.
The treatment and disposition of the decorative bands on the current jar are also similar to those seen on cut-glazed vessels excavated from the Lingwu kiln. The use of a sketchy vegetal scroll bordered by double fine lines can be seen on a number of excavated pieces, including those shown in pls. 44-3 and 44-4 of the excavation report. The combination of individual sprays of flowers on the shoulders between the lugs, above a main decorative band depicting floral sprays in ogival panels, can be seen in pl. 100-1.I , while this plate and several figures, including figs. 52 and 53, illustrate the similarity of style between the current jar and the excavated wares from Lingwu in the form of the flowers and in the multi-directional striated ground between panels.