Lot 2001

2001

The Appreciation of Chinese Ceramics in Japan Rosemary Scott - International Academic Director Christie's Hong Kong is delighted to be offering this season Part II of the Yiqingge Collection of Chinese Ceramics. The first part of the collection was very successfully sold here in June 2011. This remarkable collection, which includes pieces ranging from the Song to the Qing dynasties, was carefully assembled by a Japanese connoisseur of Chinese ceramics. Japanese collectors have long appreciated Chinese ceramics, and the following essay provides a brief outline of that twelve hundred-year collecting history. Chinese ceramics and other decorative arts have been admired in Japan since at least the Tang dynasty (AD 618-907). This early admiration is clearly evidenced by the remarkable Chinese material preserved in the Imperial Repository of the Shoso-in in the Todai-ji at Nara, which was constructed in about AD 756, following the death of Emperor Shomu (r. 724-49), and which contains a significant body of material from Tang dynasty China, including ceramics. Some 600 items were dedicated to the Great Buddha (Daibutsu) of the Todai-ji by Empress Komyo (AD 701-760) over a period of five years in memory of her beloved husband, who had abdicated in 749 in order to become a Buddhist priest. Empress Komyo herself followed his example and also took holy orders. The emperor had commissioned the 16 metre high statue of the Vairocana Buddha for the Todai-ji in 743 and it was finally completed in 751, becoming the largest bronze statue of the Vairocana Buddha in the world. Amongst the Chinese ceramics preserved in the Shoso-in are a number of Tang dynasty sancai earthenwares, which were treasured in Japan during the Nara period (AD 710-794), and have been found in some forty-eight sites in Nara and Kyoto. Interestingly, many of these come from temple sites, and the Japanese scholar Narasaki Shoichi believes that they were not items of trade, but were brought to Japan by monks who had travelled to Chinese monasteries during the Tang dynasty [1]. It is likely that the majority of these items were used for Buddhist ritual, and it is significant that Japanese potters producing ceramics inspired by Chinese sancai frequently made items associated with Buddhist ritual. Indeed two of these so-called 'Nara sancai' pieces preserved in the Shoso-in, alongside their Chinese counterparts, bear ink inscriptions specifying their ritual use. While many of the shapes of the 'Nara sancai' were not those of the Chinese wares, some Chinese shapes were adopted by Japanese potters. These included the three-legged trays, which can be found among Japanese polychrome wares as well as the ash-glazed wares from the Sanage kilns', although the latter kilns were more obviously inspired by Chinese stonewares from the Yue kilns. Tang dynasty high-fired ceramics certainly found favour in Japan - particularly the celadon Yue wares from Zhejiang, the high-fired white wares from northern China, and stonewares from the Changsha kilns in Hunan province. Probably the most influential of these were Yue wares, which almost certainly provided the impetus for the development of oxidation firing at the Sanage kilns, enabling the potters to achieve a pale green colour with the ash glazes, and which was combined with fine-line incising in the 10th century. In order to achieve a more distinct green glaze, more strongly resembling Yue wares, the highest quality pieces were given a green lead-fluxed glaze requiring double firing. Fine ceramics from the Northern Song and Jin dynasties, particularly high-fired wares from the Ding kilns, celadon wares from the Yaozhou kilns and Cizhou stonewares have been preserved in Japan. With the Southern Song period came a renewed enthusiasm for Chinese art amongst Japanese collectors. Indeed Professor Hiroko Nishida has written that in the Kamakura period (1185-1392): '... the majority of the art and decorative art objects used in the ceremonies, interior decoration and tea drinking events of Buddhist Temples and the military class were objects imported from China.'[2] These objects were called karamono (Tang [Chinese] things). Excavated evidence for their popularity can be found in profusion in the large quantities of Song and Yuan dynasty celadon-glazed ceramic sherds that littered the coastline by Kamakura city. In addition to the Kamakura sherds, black-glazed tea bowls, qingbai white porcelains, and Longquan celadons have been excavated from a variety of historical sites throughout Japan. Significant numbers of Song and Yuan dynasty sherds have been excavated at the Ichijo-dani site in Fukui prefecture, the Kusado sengen site in Hiroshima, several sites in Kyoto, and the port city of Hakata [3]. Some of the major Japanese temples also still have in their possession Song dynasty Chinese ceramics preserved since the time of their manufacture. The fascination with Chinese ceramics grew even stronger in the Yuan period. The extent and quality of celadon and other Chinese wares imported into Japan can be seen from the wealth of material preserved there to this day. Karamono were still greatly in vogue in the Yuan period. A letter survives written by Kanazawa Sada-aki, who died in 1333 and was a relative of the Hojo clan, who were the military rulers of the Kanto region. Part of it reads: 'The Chinese boats have arrived, a large amount of karamono cargo was unloaded.' And in another letter written to his son, Sada-aki noted: 'It seems that karamono are the fashion in Kyoto, I definitely want you to plan on bringing some karamono when you return to Kanto.' [4] It is therefore not surprising that a Longquan lidded celadon jar was found in Kanazawa Sada-aki's grave, used as an ossuary, and that the Shomyo-ji (the temple in which Sada-aki's grave is situated) still has two large Chinese celadon vases and a large incense burner with applied relief decoration. Major temples, such as the Engaku-ji and Kencho-ji at Kamakura still use celadon vases preserved in the temples since the Kamakura (AD 1185-1333) and Muromachi (AD 1333-1573) periods [5]. Not only celadon flower vases but also Chinese celadon incense burners and tea bowls, as well as black-glazed wares and qingbai porcelains are listed among the approximately 100 Chinese objects in the famous inventory of Butsunichi-an, which is dated AD 1363 and is an inventory of items donated to a sub-temple of the Engaku-ji by Hojo Tokimune (AD 1251-1284). Professor Hiroko Nishida has also noted that the ceramics shown in one the famous set of illustrated handscrolls produced in 1351, called Boki-e kotoba (an illustrated biography of Kakunyo, patriarch of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism), now in the Tokyo National Museum, are almost certainly Chinese. The scroll in question is fifth in the series and includes a scene showing Kakunyo (AD1270-1351) at work on a poetry anthology, while to one side there is a view of the kitchen in which his meal is being prepared using Chinese celadon, white and black ware vessels. By the early 14th century the fashion for tea drinking was already established in Kamakura, and special teas were brought from Kyoto for tea tastings. The paraphernalia of tea preparation was also becoming established with special terms being applied to certain utensils and a preference being shown for certain types of ceramics. Among the tea bowls which were prized at that time, and which have remained treasured objects in Japan to the present day, were Chinese black-glazed tea bowls, especially those from the Jian kilns of Fujian. These were known as temmoku a name taken from the Japanese pronunciation of the Tianmu mountains of Zhejiang province. The bowls themselves came from the area of Jian'an in Fujian, which had a history of fine tea cultivation that predated the Song dynasty. Indeed this area had sent tea as tribute to the Chinese court prior to the Song and continued to do so. Both Zhejiang and Fujian had Chan (Zen) Buddhist temples which were visited by Japanese monks, and it is there that the monks encountered the beautiful dark-glazed tea bowls. When they returned to Japan they took examples of these tea bowls with them, and, in doing so, helped to establish an appreciation of such vessels that has lasted for more than 800 years. It was not, however, only the dark-glazed ceramics from the Jian kilns that were prized by Japanese connoisseurs, but those from the Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi province, which had the most extensive range of innovative decorative techniques of any of the black ware kilns, and those from the northern kilns, including, of course, the famous black Ding wares. The excavated cargo of a ship that left the Chinese port of Ningbo in AD 1323, headed for Japan, but which sank off the Sinan Coast of Korea, has provided extensive information on ceramics for the Japanese market in the early 14th century [6]. Some of the items in its cargo were labelled with the name of the Tofuku-ji, a temple in Kyoto, and so it is clear that some of the ceramics were destined to fill specific orders for Japanese temples. The 20,000 ceramic items in the cargo included celadons and white porcelains, as well as black and brown glazed wares. The lack of blue and white wares in this large cargo either suggests that these were not widely available in the first quarter of the fourteenth century or that they did not accord with Japanese aesthetics at the time. In the Yuan dynasty a particular type of Longquan celadon ware was produced, which perhaps represents one of the earliest examples of Chinese kilns catering to Japanese tastes. This is the type traditionally known internationally by the Japanese name tobi seiji C, on which spots of iron oxide are artfully scattered over the surface of the green glaze. While most of the examples of this type found elsewhere in Asia are of secondary quality, those found in Japan frequently combine elegant potting with the very fine-textured green glaze so prized by Japanese connoisseurs, complemented by the rich iron-brown spots that give this type of Longquan celadon its name. In the early days of the Ming dynasty private trade with Japan that did not fall within the tribute system was officially banned, but nevertheless Chinese ceramics, silk, cotton etc., were undoubtedly exported to Japan. By the mid-16th century a specific group of porcelains from the Jingdezhen kilns were so popular in Japan that they are still frequently referred to in the West by their Japanese name of kinrande or gold brocade. They are characterised by surface decoration of gold scrolling designs applied either directly onto the high fired glaze or onto an overglaze enamel. The most usual monochrome colours on these pieces are red, green and blue, but there is a related group, often given the same name, which combines polychrome enamel decoration, sometimes with additional underglaze blue details, and gold scrolls, usually applied to the red areas. The gold decoration was simply gold-leaf burnished onto the surface of the glaze or enamel, so it was very fugitive and needs careful handling. Today many examples of kinrande wares are still preserved in Japanese collections. By the latter part of the Ming dynasty, the commercial importance of Japanese enthusiasm for Chinese porcelain was well understood by the kilns at Jingdezhen. Significantly, Chinese ceramics could be sold in Japan for two to three times the price paid for them in Guangzhou. Japan was therefore was an obvious market to which the Chinese potters would turn when they needed to develop alternative patronage following the closure of the imperial kilns in 1608. By the 1570s Nagasaki and Manila were established as major trading centres for both trade with the West and inter-Asian trade. As William Atwell has put it: 'Within a short time Chinese silks were being worn in the Streets of Kyoto and Lima, Chinese cottons were being sold in Filipino and Mexican markets, and Chinese porcelain was being used in fashioning homes from Sakai [a port in Osaka prefecture] to London.' [7] The trade in these and other luxury items earned China large amounts of Japanese silver. In 1608 the imperial kilns at Jingdezhen were closed and the potters needed to find new patrons or extend existing non-imperial markets. With an established taste for Chinese porcelain in Japan, the Chinese potters began to make porcelains in precisely the styles these Japanese connoisseurs required. Two particular styles of 17th century ceramics are associated with Japanese patrons and are both usually referred to in the West by their Japanese names ko-sometsuke and Shonzui. Ko-sometsuke, or 'old blue and white' is usually associated with the Tianqi reign (1621-27), while Shonzui, which takes its name from a somewhat controversial inscription which appears on some of the pieces, is associated with the Chongzhen (1628-44) reign. Ko-sometsuke had a deliberately rustic appearance, which appealed to certain Japanese tea masters. Shonzui porcelains were more precisely decorated with well-prepared materials, but retained a slight eccentricity in their shapes. In the 1630s Sino-Japanese trade, including trade in porcelain, also saw an increase - with a corresponding increase in the amounts of silver reaching China through Portuguese shipping via Macao. However, in 1639 the Portuguese were excluded from Nagasaki, adversely affecting the Sino-Japanese trade, and fewer Chinese ceramics entered Japan. In the late 18th and early 19th century, however, there was an interesting revival of interest in Chinese culture amongst the Japanese literati. This reawakened interest centred, in part, around the drinking of sencha (steeped tea, as opposed to matcha powdered tea), a practice which also became associated with the collection of antiques. In turn, this lead to the development by various Japanese literati potters, such as Okuda Eisen (1753-1811) and Aoki Mokubei (1767-1833) in Kyoto, of ceramics largely inspired by certain Chinese antique wares of the 17th and 18th century. Japanese appreciation of Chinese ceramics once more gained impetus at the turn of the 20th century, and a number of experimental Japanese workshops, such as the famous Miyagawa Kozan (1842-1916) workshop in Yokohama, took up the challenge of recreating ancient Chinese wares. The appreciation of Chinese ceramics in the early 20th century was fuelled by the endeavours of some notable Japanese antique dealers. In April 1905 a 22 year-old Mayuyama Matsutaro (1882-1935) travelled to Beijing and started up an antique business. He studied Chinese art diligently while in Beijing, developing a particular admiration and understanding for Longquan celadon wares. Although he returned to Japan in 1916, his company continued to deal in Chinese ceramics, and when Mayuyama Co. passed to his son Mayuyama Junkichi (1913-1999) in 1935, Chinese ceramics were amongst the most important items in which the company dealt from their premises firstly in the Ginza in Tokyo, then Kyobashi, and in 1923 in the Imperial Hotel, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This continued interest in Chinese ceramics is reflected in the volumes of Mayuyama Seventy Years, published by the company in 1976 and in Mayuyama Junkichi's autobiography, published in 1988 [8]. During the period from 1911 to 1945, even during times of strife, Japanese dealers, along with those from Britain, Germany and France, were active in Beijing's famous antiques district centred on Liulichang. Another of Japan's most famous dealers in Chinese art, Yamanaka Sadajiro (1866-1936) established premises in Beijing for his firm, Yamanaka and Company. While Yamanka had opened premises in New York in 1894 selling primarily Japanese art, and by 1899 the company had opened further shops in Boston, and Atlantic City, in the early years of the 20th century the company began to sell more Chinese art than Japanese. In 1912 Yamanaka & Co., became the sole agents for Prince Kung, and in 1917 they opened their premises in Beijing [9]. Yamanaka installed a very able manager, Takada Matashiro, who had a reputation for knowing where to find the best pieces [10], and Yamanaka himself is said to have visited Beijing every spring and autumn after 1921 [11]. The items of Chinese ceramics the company purchased were then sold in Osaka, as well as New York and London. Other Japanese dealers also catered to their clients taste for Chinese ceramics, and magnificent collections of Chinese ceramics were built up in Japan. Museums in Japan today reflect the continued fascination with Chinese ceramics. In the case of some museum collections, the treasured possessions of generations of a single important family are represented, and in these cases the Chinese items in the collection are often those associated with tea drinking. This is true, for example of the collections of the Tokugawa Art Museum, Aichi, which was founded in 1935 through a donation by Tokugawa Yoshichika (1886-1976). This museum includes items owned by Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543-1616) first shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate, and his son Tokugawa Yoshinao (1601-1650), as well as those of subsequent generations. Another example is the Eisei-bunko Museum in Tokyo, founded by Hosokawa Moritatsu, descendant of the feudal lords of Kumamoto in Kyushu province and 16th generation family head, in 1950. This foundation has extensive archival holdings and diverse art collections, amongst which are a pair of Tang Ying porcelain-inlaid calligraphic panels similar to Lot 2012. Japanese museums containing the collections of individuals, who bought their Chinese ceramics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, also provide a good indication of the enduring fascination with Chinese ceramics amongst Japanese collectors. The collection housed in the Seikado Bunko Art Museum, for example, was founded in by Baron Iwasaki Yanosuke (1851-1908) and expanded by his son, Baron Iwasaki Koyata (1879-1945). They were respectively the second and fourth presidents of Mitsubishi. Seikado was the studio-name of Iwasaki Yanosuke. The Seikado Foundation was established in 1940 and the Seikado Bunko Library was opened. This housed Baron Iwasaki Koyata's personal collection of books - 80,000 volumes in Japanese and 120,000 volumes in Chinese. It was his hope to establish an art museum, but this was delayed until many years after his death. Iwasaki Yanosuke collected a broad range of both Japanese and Chinese art including swords, tea ceremony utensils, Chinese and Japanese painting, calligraphy, pottery, lacquerware, paper and brushes, and wood carvings, while his son Koyata expanded the collection. In particular Iwasaki Koyata was a passionate collector of Chinese ceramics and established a comprehensive and systematic collection from the Han dynasty through to, and including, the Qing dynasty. Today the museum houses some 6,500 art objects, including a black-enamelled dragon vase that is very similar to the green-enamelled example in the Yiqingge Collection. The Nezu Museum (Nezu bijutsukan) was established under the terms of the will of Nezu Kaichiro, Sr. (1860-1940), who was an industrialist and president of the Tobu railway. His intention was to establish a foundation to preserve his personal collection, and the museum opened in 1941 at his Aoyama residence. The garden there is in traditional style and includes several tea houses, reflecting Nezu Kaichiro's enduring interest in the tea ceremony, which is also reflected in his collection. Amongst the tea wares in the Nezu Museum are fine examples from Japan, China and Korea. In addition to its important collection of Japanese art, the museum is especially famous for its collections of ancient Chinese bronzes, Chinese paintings of the Song and Yuan dynasties, and Chinese ceramics. In more recent years the museum has been the recipient of additional donations from other private collectors and now houses more than 7,400 art objects. Another famous Japanese collection which included very important Chinese ceramics is today housed in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics Osaka. This is the Ataka Collection which is comprised of some 1,000 East Asian ceramics assembled by Ataka Eichi (1901-94). Ataka Eiichi came from a wealthy mercantile family, and served as both company board chairman and counsellor to the trading company Ataka Co. Ltd. It was he who initiated the Ataka collection and was responsible for its growth. Through his finely developed aesthetic sense the collection, primarily consisting of Chinese ceramics of the Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, and Korean ceramics of the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties, was built up. After the dissolution of the Ataka company, the Sumitomo Group donated the collection to the city of Osaka. The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka was founded in 1982 in order to house the collection, which is now internationally renowned. The foregoing are just some of the major collections that remain as testaments to the enduring Japanese appreciation of Chinese ceramics; an appreciation which has lasted more than 1200 years. [1] Narasaki Shoichi, Riben chutude Tang sancai (Tang sancai excavated in Japan), Zhongyuan Wenwu, 1999:3, p. 52 [2] Hiroko Nishida, 'The Collection and Appreciation of Chinese Art Objects in 15th-16th Century Japan, and their Legacy', Collecting Chinese Art: Interpretation and Display, S. Pierson (ed.). Colloquies on Art & Archaeology in Asia No. 20, Percival David Foundation, London, 2000, p.10. [3] Hiroko Nishida, op. cit. [4] Hiroko Nishida, op. cit. [5] Hiroko Nishida, op. cit. [6] Ministry of Culture and Information, Relics Salvaged from the Seabed off Sinan, Seoul, Korea, 1985. [7] William Atwell in Frederick W. Mote & Denis Twitchett (ed), The Cambridge History of China Volume 7 The Ming Dynasty 1368-1644, Part I, Cambridge University Press, 1988, p. 587. [8] Mayuyama, Junkichi, Bijutsu Sho no Yorokobi: The Joys of an Art Dealer, Tokyo, 1988. [9] Kuchiki Yuriko, House of Yamanaka, Art Dealer Who Sold Oriental Treasures to Americans and Europeans, Shinchosha s, 2011. [10] Di Yin Lu, llecting China: Buying a Civilization in the Chinese Art Market, 1911-1945, CAPI Conference, n.d., University of Victoria Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives, p. 4. [11] Di Yin Lu, op. cit., p. 5.

A VERY RARE JIZHOU MEIPING

SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)

Details

A VERY RARE JIZHOU MEIPING
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)
The slender oviform body is painted with two quatrefoil panels comprising ruyi scrolls, separated by swirl motifs. The glaze is of a dark brownish olive tone streaking to a creamy coffee brown simulating tixi lacquer and stopping above the concave base exposing the pale buff foot rim. The narrow neck is further decorated with a keyfret band rising to a rounded lip splashed with a band of dots.
8 in. (20.5 cm.) high, stand, box

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Lot Essay

The golden opalescent quality of the design contrasts very effectively with the dense, dark brown glaze beneath. This was an interesting technique used at the Jizhou kilns to paint pale designs on top of the unfired glaze. When the piece was fired, and the glaze flowed slightly, the designs were rendered in softer focus, and the patterns, which were often akin to those seen on carved lacquers of the period, provided a pleasing richness of surface decoration.

A meiping decorated with star-shaped flowers in the Jiangxi Provincial Museum is illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, vol. 15, Shanghai, 1986, pl. 66. A meiping in the St. Louis Art Museum illustrated by M. Medley, The Chinese Potter, London, 1976, fig. 122, is decorated with a design of scattered prunus blossoms. Also compare to the pair of Jizhou pear-shaped vases decorated in this technique, but with a tixi-style design, sold at Christie's New York, 29 March 2006, lot 403.

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