Song to Yuan Porcelain
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Chinese porcelain Song Yuan
Chronology : 1000-1400 14th century
See also : Chinese porcelain Song Yuan
Chronology : 1000-1400 14th century
ca 1100 basin
2014 SOLD for HK$ 147M by Sotheby's
Under the Song dynasties, porcelain replaces jade for the dishes of the imperial palace, provided that its refinement is extreme. The greatest geometric simplicity is highly appreciated. The softness of the glazes is so great to the touch that up to present day it remains the unequaled summit of this art. Incised decorations are often exquisite but are not essential.
From the beginning of the dynasty with the white Ding type porcelain, some cups are multi-lobed, taking the shape of a blooming flower. This form has indeed a practical purpose because it helps to hold the brushes during washing.
A basin made in white porcelain at the time of the Northern Song Dynasty 900 years ago or slightly earlier was sold for HK $ 147M from a lower estimate of HK $ 60M by Sotheby's on April 8, 2014, lot 11. There is no evidence that this piece was imperial.
This large bowl 22 cm in diameter with high walls enters into the category of the Ding, vessels of good purity used for food or medicine. It is however the high end in this category, with some extreme refinements unique of their kind. Its glaze is colored in two very close ivory shades. It is in excellent condition.
Its theme is floral, first of all by its eight lobes of lotus petal shape. Inside, the floral patterns are finely incised under the glaze, barely noticeable in the photos. The central medallion is decorated with a peony and lotus stems adorn the inside walls. The exterior is blank.
The rim of the bowl is colored by a brown copper strip enabled by sparings in the glaze. This nice addition met the fashion of the time but did not please the emperor. It explains the development of the Ru production, monochrome without sparings, in the very last years of the dynasty.
From the beginning of the dynasty with the white Ding type porcelain, some cups are multi-lobed, taking the shape of a blooming flower. This form has indeed a practical purpose because it helps to hold the brushes during washing.
A basin made in white porcelain at the time of the Northern Song Dynasty 900 years ago or slightly earlier was sold for HK $ 147M from a lower estimate of HK $ 60M by Sotheby's on April 8, 2014, lot 11. There is no evidence that this piece was imperial.
This large bowl 22 cm in diameter with high walls enters into the category of the Ding, vessels of good purity used for food or medicine. It is however the high end in this category, with some extreme refinements unique of their kind. Its glaze is colored in two very close ivory shades. It is in excellent condition.
Its theme is floral, first of all by its eight lobes of lotus petal shape. Inside, the floral patterns are finely incised under the glaze, barely noticeable in the photos. The central medallion is decorated with a peony and lotus stems adorn the inside walls. The exterior is blank.
The rim of the bowl is colored by a brown copper strip enabled by sparings in the glaze. This nice addition met the fashion of the time but did not please the emperor. It explains the development of the Ru production, monochrome without sparings, in the very last years of the dynasty.
Ru Ware
Intro
In the history of mankind, artistic refinement is not a matter of continuous improvement, as one might believe. The chemical secret of the Imperial ceramics of the Northern Song is lost for a long time, and the quality of the smooth and translucent glaze using agate powder will never be equaled.
The best production center was known as the Ru kilns, Ru yao in Chinese. Ru ceramics are very rare because this operation lasted only a few years, 900 years ago during Zhezong and Huizong periods and was stopped by the fall of the dynasty. The site of the Ru yao, lost since the Yuan, was located in 1987 in Henan Province and excavated in 2000.
By a positioning on tiny studs during cooking without turning the piece upside down, the glaze savings that so displeased at the court of the Northern Song are avoided. The celadon color of which several shades are available equals the refinement of the jade. In the fashion of that time perfect proportions and minimalism are preferred to the complexity of shapes.
Located on what was to become a border zone between north and south, the Ru kilns did not survive the fall of the Northern Song. Their undocumented activity which was perhaps not in the service of the court had only lasted about two decades.
A quarter of a century after the fall of the Northern Song a courtier presents to the Gaozong Emperor of the Southern Song a significant group of Ru ware. The Emperor who was just managing to restore the legendary refinement of his dynasty admires the exceptional quality of these porcelains and especially some pieces whose surface has a texture like ice crackles. This effect modeling the creation of minerals in nature is appreciated as sensational. It was related to the chance of the cooling conditions in the Ru kilns but the Southern Song potters discovered the conditions to be applied to create such a texture at will.
87 pieces of Ru porcelain of the Northern Song are known. Four of them are in private hands.
The best production center was known as the Ru kilns, Ru yao in Chinese. Ru ceramics are very rare because this operation lasted only a few years, 900 years ago during Zhezong and Huizong periods and was stopped by the fall of the dynasty. The site of the Ru yao, lost since the Yuan, was located in 1987 in Henan Province and excavated in 2000.
By a positioning on tiny studs during cooking without turning the piece upside down, the glaze savings that so displeased at the court of the Northern Song are avoided. The celadon color of which several shades are available equals the refinement of the jade. In the fashion of that time perfect proportions and minimalism are preferred to the complexity of shapes.
Located on what was to become a border zone between north and south, the Ru kilns did not survive the fall of the Northern Song. Their undocumented activity which was perhaps not in the service of the court had only lasted about two decades.
A quarter of a century after the fall of the Northern Song a courtier presents to the Gaozong Emperor of the Southern Song a significant group of Ru ware. The Emperor who was just managing to restore the legendary refinement of his dynasty admires the exceptional quality of these porcelains and especially some pieces whose surface has a texture like ice crackles. This effect modeling the creation of minerals in nature is appreciated as sensational. It was related to the chance of the cooling conditions in the Ru kilns but the Southern Song potters discovered the conditions to be applied to create such a texture at will.
87 pieces of Ru porcelain of the Northern Song are known. Four of them are in private hands.
1
intense blue-green brush washer
2017 SOLD for HK$ 294M by Sotheby's
A 13 cm round brush washer was sold for HK $ 294M by Sotheby's on October 3, 2017, lot 5. This intense blue-green piece has an exceptionally shiny crackled surface. Please watch the short video shared by the auction house.
900-year-old dish to smash US$36 million auction world record for Chinese antiques https://t.co/U56WqVJCQB pic.twitter.com/H7bBHIqiIv
— SCMP News (@SCMPNews) August 24, 2017
2
pale blue-green brush washer
2012 SOLD for HK$ 208M by Sotheby's
The classic color of Ru is a very pale blue-green jade imitation. A washer 13.5 cm in diameter in smooth texture and very good condition was sold for HK $ 208M from a lower estimate of HK $ 60M by Sotheby's on April 4, 2012. The edge is pinched in six locations, simulating the petals of a flower.
This washer was known long before the rediscovery of the site.
This washer was known long before the rediscovery of the site.
3
sky blue bowl
2018 SOLD for HK$ 56M by Christie's
The Qing emperors considered the Imperial Ru porcelain as the best of all time. Its production for a decade or so at the end of the Northern Song dynasty had not been documented in period.
It was identified by the Southern Song that the extreme quality of the Imperial Ru ware was due to the incorporation of agate powder into the glaze. The exploration of the kiln site discovered in Henan province in 1986 showed that they were made beside a mass production in ordinary porcelain.
The techniques applied to hold the pieces during heating and cooling were rudimentary, resulting in a very low yield correlated with the excavation of many fragments on the site.
It is possible that the Imperial Ru was essentially experimental, and applied to most shapes produced at the same place in the other techniques. Because of its top quality, the Southern Song could not do otherwise than qualifying it as 'imperial' and the Qing experts followed.
A sky blue tea bowl 10.2 cm in diameter and 5.2 cm in height surfaced in 2015. Its provenance from Japanese collections is indisputable and precedes for several decades the location of the kiln site. It had been broken, probably in the first part of the twentieth century, and repaired according to a traditional Japanese method including a filling of the gaps by a lacquer mixed with gold powder. It is considered complete.
This piece brings together two of the rarest features in its class.
The extreme scarcity of Imperial Ru bowls had already been highlighted by the Qianlong emperor. A slightly chipped example of identical shape and dimensions but in another color had been found on the kiln site.
Its sky blue color is unique among complete pieces but is also found on some excavated fragments. Highly appreciated in graphic arts by the Northern Song, this color was an attempt by the Ru potters to escape the traditional celadon.
This bowl was sold for HK $ 56M by Christie's on November 26, 2018, lot 8006.
It was identified by the Southern Song that the extreme quality of the Imperial Ru ware was due to the incorporation of agate powder into the glaze. The exploration of the kiln site discovered in Henan province in 1986 showed that they were made beside a mass production in ordinary porcelain.
The techniques applied to hold the pieces during heating and cooling were rudimentary, resulting in a very low yield correlated with the excavation of many fragments on the site.
It is possible that the Imperial Ru was essentially experimental, and applied to most shapes produced at the same place in the other techniques. Because of its top quality, the Southern Song could not do otherwise than qualifying it as 'imperial' and the Qing experts followed.
A sky blue tea bowl 10.2 cm in diameter and 5.2 cm in height surfaced in 2015. Its provenance from Japanese collections is indisputable and precedes for several decades the location of the kiln site. It had been broken, probably in the first part of the twentieth century, and repaired according to a traditional Japanese method including a filling of the gaps by a lacquer mixed with gold powder. It is considered complete.
This piece brings together two of the rarest features in its class.
The extreme scarcity of Imperial Ru bowls had already been highlighted by the Qianlong emperor. A slightly chipped example of identical shape and dimensions but in another color had been found on the kiln site.
Its sky blue color is unique among complete pieces but is also found on some excavated fragments. Highly appreciated in graphic arts by the Northern Song, this color was an attempt by the Ru potters to escape the traditional celadon.
This bowl was sold for HK $ 56M by Christie's on November 26, 2018, lot 8006.
Southern Song
1
Guan brush washer
2018 SOLD for HK$ 81M by Sotheby's
900 years ago the "Northern" Song are overthrown by the Jin. The Song dynasty persists in the South with a new capital in Hangzhou. After a long reluctance to settle as far from their home base, the Southern Song recreate therein the best porcelain.
The main porcelain of the Southern Song is named guan. Mimicking the texture of the previous Northern pieces including the phenomenal Ru glaze, the guan porcelain offers new designs in a fertile rivalry between the traditionalists and the minimalist reformists. To please the formers, a great variety of new shapes imitates ancient bronzes and jades. The moderns are managing not without success to approach the quality of the Ru ware.
A Ru brush washer from the Northern Song 13.5 cm in diameter was sold for HK $ 208M by Sotheby's on April 4, 2012.
In an extremely similar style, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 81M on October 3, 2018 as lot 3105 a guan brush washer of the Southern Song 14 cm in diameter. The thick bluish green glaze with a classic crackle texture is glossy, without decoration. The color changes on the rim, voluntarily imitating not without humor the traces of the position in the kiln that had so much displeased the Song emperors in the early days of the Ding.
A guan dish of comparable design and shape 18 cm in diameter with a celadon glaze was sold for HK $ 26M by Christie's on May 28, 2014.
The main porcelain of the Southern Song is named guan. Mimicking the texture of the previous Northern pieces including the phenomenal Ru glaze, the guan porcelain offers new designs in a fertile rivalry between the traditionalists and the minimalist reformists. To please the formers, a great variety of new shapes imitates ancient bronzes and jades. The moderns are managing not without success to approach the quality of the Ru ware.
A Ru brush washer from the Northern Song 13.5 cm in diameter was sold for HK $ 208M by Sotheby's on April 4, 2012.
In an extremely similar style, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 81M on October 3, 2018 as lot 3105 a guan brush washer of the Southern Song 14 cm in diameter. The thick bluish green glaze with a classic crackle texture is glossy, without decoration. The color changes on the rim, voluntarily imitating not without humor the traces of the position in the kiln that had so much displeased the Song emperors in the early days of the Ding.
A guan dish of comparable design and shape 18 cm in diameter with a celadon glaze was sold for HK $ 26M by Christie's on May 28, 2014.
2
Guan vase
2015 SOLD for HK$ 114M by Sotheby's
The acceptance of the porcelain by the Song for a normal use in the palace opened a challenge to the specialized craftsmen: the vessels were to be as pleasant as jade in sight and touch. The development is rapid, with new forms, incised figured and white or celadon glazes. The underglaze painting has not yet been invented.
The emperor himself promotes this new art that reaches an unprecedented refinement with the very short operation of the Ru kilns (Ru yao) just before the invasion by the Jin. The Song control is thereafter limited to south China with a temporary capital in the present city of Hangzhou.
Shocked by these events, the Southern Song are looking to redefine their values in a compromise between tradition and progress. Beyond Tang whose luxury was voluptuous, the Song are rediscovering the various shapes of antique ritual bronzes, from Shang to Han. They inaugurated a tradition for the porcelain imitation of old vessels that will be continued up to the Qing.
Two imperial kilns (Guan yao) are installed in Hangzhou. Their location is known, and one of them was probably inside the Imperial City. This official porcelain favors the balance of geometric shapes and the quality of the material instead of the figuration. The Guan of the Southern Song achieves a sophistication comparable to the white Ding porcelain of the early Song and to the wonderful Ru wares.
A Guan vase 22 cm high was sold for HK $ 114M from an expectation beyond HK $ 60M by Sotheby's on April 7, 2015, lot 1.
The general shape of this bottle made 800 years ago is a hu, with a tall neck over a bulging body. It is yet octagonal from neck to base, with the exception of its circular mouth rim. Four horizontal ribs in slight protuberance offer a pleasant partitioning.
Above the dark brown ceramic that is visible under the base, the bluish-green glaze was built by successive heatings in a complex process that resulted in softening the sharp angles without a mechanical intervention on the ceramic. The final cooling creates the crackled pattern according to the fashion already promoted by the Northern Song, symbolizing the random lines of the nature.
The emperor himself promotes this new art that reaches an unprecedented refinement with the very short operation of the Ru kilns (Ru yao) just before the invasion by the Jin. The Song control is thereafter limited to south China with a temporary capital in the present city of Hangzhou.
Shocked by these events, the Southern Song are looking to redefine their values in a compromise between tradition and progress. Beyond Tang whose luxury was voluptuous, the Song are rediscovering the various shapes of antique ritual bronzes, from Shang to Han. They inaugurated a tradition for the porcelain imitation of old vessels that will be continued up to the Qing.
Two imperial kilns (Guan yao) are installed in Hangzhou. Their location is known, and one of them was probably inside the Imperial City. This official porcelain favors the balance of geometric shapes and the quality of the material instead of the figuration. The Guan of the Southern Song achieves a sophistication comparable to the white Ding porcelain of the early Song and to the wonderful Ru wares.
A Guan vase 22 cm high was sold for HK $ 114M from an expectation beyond HK $ 60M by Sotheby's on April 7, 2015, lot 1.
The general shape of this bottle made 800 years ago is a hu, with a tall neck over a bulging body. It is yet octagonal from neck to base, with the exception of its circular mouth rim. Four horizontal ribs in slight protuberance offer a pleasant partitioning.
Above the dark brown ceramic that is visible under the base, the bluish-green glaze was built by successive heatings in a complex process that resulted in softening the sharp angles without a mechanical intervention on the ceramic. The final cooling creates the crackled pattern according to the fashion already promoted by the Northern Song, symbolizing the random lines of the nature.
#AuctionUpdate: Song Dynasty 'Guan' Octagonal Vase, Southern sought by 8 bidders, sells for HK$113.9m/US$14.7m pic.twitter.com/70lTua10f9
— Sotheby's (@Sothebys) April 7, 2015
3
Jian tea bowl
2016 SOLD for $ 11.7M by Christie's
The Ding kilns located in Hebei province in northeastern China were producing ceramics since the Tang dynasty. When porcelain begins to compete with jade for imperial use under the Northern Song, Ding is the most important source for these new wares. The bowls are normally stacked upside down during heating, leaving the mouth rim unglazed.
The beautiful creamy white Ding porcelains become commonplace and the court always demands more refinement. The Ding workshops add to their know-how the black porcelain bowls bringing a more pleasant vision of tea froth. The activity of the Ding kilns is not interrupted after the invasion of North China by the Jin in 1125 CE.
Ding potters know how to embellish their black porcelain with colorful effects. This practice was later extended in the Jian kilns of the Southern Song with continuous patterns described as hare's fur, tea dust, partridge plumage or oil drops.
Under the Song the tea ceremony culminated in an exquisite refinement that required in its turn an improvement of the porcelain. Potters achieved an unprecedented control of the kiln settings but also of the chemistry applied to the glazes.
The tea is prepared in powder on which the boiling water generates a white froth which is more enjoyable when the porcelain is dark. The Jian kilns provide an additional visual refinement. The iron saturated glaze generates chemical precipitates that create different patterns depending on the precise time at which the process is stopped.
The basic effect consisting of streaks is the hare's fur. A more subtle next step brings a network of iridescent spots, sometimes with halos, constituting patterns known as tea dust, partridge feather or oil spot. Modern chemists failed to reproduce the chemical purity of the iron oxide of the grown solidified drops from the Song porcelain.
A tea bowl 12 cm in diameter realized in Jian technique during the period of the Southern Song around 800 years ago was sold for $ 11.7M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on September, 2016, lot 707 . It features a rare and beautiful wall surface of oil spots on a black background.
The Japanese continued to enjoy the black tea bowls of the Song which they imitated under the name of tenmoku. The bowl for sale is accompanied by a lacquered box probably from Edo period and was registered in Japan as an important art object from 1935 to 2015. It comes from a Japanese collection of old Chinese porcelains.
This piece is the highlight of the second sale of the Linyushanren collection of Song dynasty ceramics. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
The beautiful creamy white Ding porcelains become commonplace and the court always demands more refinement. The Ding workshops add to their know-how the black porcelain bowls bringing a more pleasant vision of tea froth. The activity of the Ding kilns is not interrupted after the invasion of North China by the Jin in 1125 CE.
Ding potters know how to embellish their black porcelain with colorful effects. This practice was later extended in the Jian kilns of the Southern Song with continuous patterns described as hare's fur, tea dust, partridge plumage or oil drops.
Under the Song the tea ceremony culminated in an exquisite refinement that required in its turn an improvement of the porcelain. Potters achieved an unprecedented control of the kiln settings but also of the chemistry applied to the glazes.
The tea is prepared in powder on which the boiling water generates a white froth which is more enjoyable when the porcelain is dark. The Jian kilns provide an additional visual refinement. The iron saturated glaze generates chemical precipitates that create different patterns depending on the precise time at which the process is stopped.
The basic effect consisting of streaks is the hare's fur. A more subtle next step brings a network of iridescent spots, sometimes with halos, constituting patterns known as tea dust, partridge feather or oil spot. Modern chemists failed to reproduce the chemical purity of the iron oxide of the grown solidified drops from the Song porcelain.
A tea bowl 12 cm in diameter realized in Jian technique during the period of the Southern Song around 800 years ago was sold for $ 11.7M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on September, 2016, lot 707 . It features a rare and beautiful wall surface of oil spots on a black background.
The Japanese continued to enjoy the black tea bowls of the Song which they imitated under the name of tenmoku. The bowl for sale is accompanied by a lacquered box probably from Edo period and was registered in Japan as an important art object from 1935 to 2015. It comes from a Japanese collection of old Chinese porcelains.
This piece is the highlight of the second sale of the Linyushanren collection of Song dynasty ceramics. Please watch the video shared by Christie's.
A very rare Jian Tea Bowl from the Song Dynasty sold for $11.7 million this morninghttps://t.co/xlKOJfoVrH pic.twitter.com/BeS3pwAcdi
— Christie's (@ChristiesInc) September 15, 2016
1350 CE Yuan Zaju Guan Jar
Intro
After decades of fierce conquests, the Mongols invaded China. Now named Yuan, their dynasty succeeded the Song. After the perfection in material, robustness and geometry under the Song, the Chinese porcelain got a new artistic development with the Yuan.
The Yuan sought to establish a synthesis of Mongolian and Chinese traditions, but they were foreigners. They strengthened their position by facilitating maritime and land communication with other Asian countries, reviving the Silk Road. At that time the Chinese ceramics, especially those from Jingdezhen, are the only ones that are hygienic enough to bring no health risk to the user.
The Jingdezhen kilns were already operational under the Tang and Song but their activity is much developed by the Yuan, experiencing a sustainable development towards the end of this dynasty, from around 1350 CE.
The painting under glaze and the cobalt blue are both imports made by the Yuan from the Muslim world for the porcelains of Jingdezhen. The white porcelain was painted on the moulded body with blue figures, and then glazed and fired. The excellent quality of the cobalt imported from Iran enabled a color gradation up to the deep blue, inviting to exquisite figurative motifs.
The globular guan shape, previously used in terracotta, was much appreciated for the top end Yuan porcelain jars.
The Yuan sought to establish a synthesis of Mongolian and Chinese traditions, but they were foreigners. They strengthened their position by facilitating maritime and land communication with other Asian countries, reviving the Silk Road. At that time the Chinese ceramics, especially those from Jingdezhen, are the only ones that are hygienic enough to bring no health risk to the user.
The Jingdezhen kilns were already operational under the Tang and Song but their activity is much developed by the Yuan, experiencing a sustainable development towards the end of this dynasty, from around 1350 CE.
The painting under glaze and the cobalt blue are both imports made by the Yuan from the Muslim world for the porcelains of Jingdezhen. The white porcelain was painted on the moulded body with blue figures, and then glazed and fired. The excellent quality of the cobalt imported from Iran enabled a color gradation up to the deep blue, inviting to exquisite figurative motifs.
The globular guan shape, previously used in terracotta, was much appreciated for the top end Yuan porcelain jars.
1
Guigu Zaju
2005 SOLD for £ 15.7M by Christie's
Very fond of warlike feats, the Yuan Mongols enjoyed the zaju, a form of drama invented by their predecessors the Song. The zaju was a multidisciplinary staged show with recitations, songs, dance and mime. The Yuan zajus narrated the epic legends of the Han or the Tang.
Two forms of porcelain wares were favourable to illustrate the zaju : the guan jar used for the wine and the meiping vase for arranging plum blossom branches. The cobalt drawing filled a circular scene all around the body.
On July 12, 2005, Christie's sold for £ 15.7M a Yuan guan jar 33 cm high illustrated in an intense blue from the finest cobalt, lot 88. It is similar in its construction with seven other surviving jars probably from the same workshop in Jingdezhen ca 1350. All but one have a band of breaking waves on the short straight neck. It is similar in its skillful painting with a vase inscribed to the equivalent of 1351 CE.
Its hectic story, not otherwise known in the porcelains, had occurred when the presumably invincible state of Yan attempted to conquer the state of Qi, a theme that indeed appealed the Mongol conquerors of China. The cart of the Qi emissary is pulled by two felines. This figure was directly inspired from a woodblock print made in the 1320s.
The image is titled Guigu on a banner, referring to the home city of a strategist of the action.
Two forms of porcelain wares were favourable to illustrate the zaju : the guan jar used for the wine and the meiping vase for arranging plum blossom branches. The cobalt drawing filled a circular scene all around the body.
On July 12, 2005, Christie's sold for £ 15.7M a Yuan guan jar 33 cm high illustrated in an intense blue from the finest cobalt, lot 88. It is similar in its construction with seven other surviving jars probably from the same workshop in Jingdezhen ca 1350. All but one have a band of breaking waves on the short straight neck. It is similar in its skillful painting with a vase inscribed to the equivalent of 1351 CE.
Its hectic story, not otherwise known in the porcelains, had occurred when the presumably invincible state of Yan attempted to conquer the state of Qi, a theme that indeed appealed the Mongol conquerors of China. The cart of the Qi emissary is pulled by two felines. This figure was directly inspired from a woodblock print made in the 1320s.
The image is titled Guigu on a banner, referring to the home city of a strategist of the action.
2
Jin Xiang Ting Zaju
2005 SOLD for HK$ 47M by Christie's
From the same series as the jar sold for £ 15.7M by Christie's in 2005, a 27.3 cm high cobalt blue guan jar was sold for HK $ 47M by Christie's on November 28, 2005, lot 1403.
It is inscribed within the picture with the three characters Jin Xiang Ting meaning Pavilion of fragrant brocades. Painted in deep and vibrant cobalt blue, it displays two pairs of standing figures in court attire in a garden beside a lone pavilion. It is representing the zaju of a troubled romance in the reign of the Xuanzong emperor of the Tang.
A Yuan jar decorated with fish was sold for HK $ 40M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2022, lot 6. Its baluster guan shape is 31 cm high and 34 cm in its larger diameter.
It is painted in cobalt blue of four fishes in different species, modeled from Song paintings. The naturalism of swimming fish was then considered as an artistic feat on which some artists were specializing. The association of fish and water is a Daoist symbol of spiritual freedom.
The magnificent underglaze blue hues from light to deep assess a perfect mastery of the recently imported cobalt by the Jingdezhen potters. This one has the same band of breaking waves on its short straight neck as the zaju jars.
A fish jar with the same design is kept at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. The theme was re-used a century later for the Xuande emperor of the Ming.
It is inscribed within the picture with the three characters Jin Xiang Ting meaning Pavilion of fragrant brocades. Painted in deep and vibrant cobalt blue, it displays two pairs of standing figures in court attire in a garden beside a lone pavilion. It is representing the zaju of a troubled romance in the reign of the Xuanzong emperor of the Tang.
A Yuan jar decorated with fish was sold for HK $ 40M by Sotheby's on October 8, 2022, lot 6. Its baluster guan shape is 31 cm high and 34 cm in its larger diameter.
It is painted in cobalt blue of four fishes in different species, modeled from Song paintings. The naturalism of swimming fish was then considered as an artistic feat on which some artists were specializing. The association of fish and water is a Daoist symbol of spiritual freedom.
The magnificent underglaze blue hues from light to deep assess a perfect mastery of the recently imported cobalt by the Jingdezhen potters. This one has the same band of breaking waves on its short straight neck as the zaju jars.
A fish jar with the same design is kept at the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. The theme was re-used a century later for the Xuande emperor of the Ming.
Yuan Peony Meiping
2023 SOLD for HK$ 68M by Christie's
Responding to the taste of the Middle East, Jingdezhen potters are making complex shaped wares moulded with hollows and bumps for enhancing the decorative pattern. A technical influence from Persian silverware is likely.
The blue and white applied in spares or brush multiplies the figurative themes in the tradition of Chinese graphic art, of course, but also with pleasant vegetal themes that also support the export of Chinese porcelain to the Middle East.
On October 5, 2016, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 30M an early Yuan charger, lot 3636. This massive piece successfully accumulates the technical difficulties with its mouldings, its bracket lobed rim and its very large size, 48 cm in diameter. It is centered by a banana tree surrounded by blooms and plants.
The decoration is using reserves to reveal the white by washing the blue background. Such pieces waste too much cobalt and in addition they were designed per unit. This technique was soon superseded by a blue on white without moulding, cheaper and suitable for a production in series.
Also with moulded scrolls, a Yuan barbed rim charger 42 cm on diameter with a decoration of various fruits and plantain tree was sold for HK $ 26M by Christie's on November 30, 2023, lot 2702 in the sale of the Tianminlou collection.
The emergence of such large serving plates reflected a change in dining habits in China during the Yuan dynasty, the sitting around the table for sharing food in the Mongol tradition superseding the sitting on the floor.
In the same sale as above on November 30, 2023, Christie's sold at lot 2701 for HK $ 68M from a lower estimate of HK $ 20M a Yuan blue and white meiping vase retaining its original cover, 45 cm high overall, decorated with peony scrolls in the Islamic taste. Its brilliant cobalt blue pigments were imported from Persia. Dark iron spots are visible on the underglaze blue. The meiping was used by the Yuan as a wine container.
The blue and white applied in spares or brush multiplies the figurative themes in the tradition of Chinese graphic art, of course, but also with pleasant vegetal themes that also support the export of Chinese porcelain to the Middle East.
On October 5, 2016, Sotheby's sold for HK $ 30M an early Yuan charger, lot 3636. This massive piece successfully accumulates the technical difficulties with its mouldings, its bracket lobed rim and its very large size, 48 cm in diameter. It is centered by a banana tree surrounded by blooms and plants.
The decoration is using reserves to reveal the white by washing the blue background. Such pieces waste too much cobalt and in addition they were designed per unit. This technique was soon superseded by a blue on white without moulding, cheaper and suitable for a production in series.
Also with moulded scrolls, a Yuan barbed rim charger 42 cm on diameter with a decoration of various fruits and plantain tree was sold for HK $ 26M by Christie's on November 30, 2023, lot 2702 in the sale of the Tianminlou collection.
The emergence of such large serving plates reflected a change in dining habits in China during the Yuan dynasty, the sitting around the table for sharing food in the Mongol tradition superseding the sitting on the floor.
In the same sale as above on November 30, 2023, Christie's sold at lot 2701 for HK $ 68M from a lower estimate of HK $ 20M a Yuan blue and white meiping vase retaining its original cover, 45 cm high overall, decorated with peony scrolls in the Islamic taste. Its brilliant cobalt blue pigments were imported from Persia. Dark iron spots are visible on the underglaze blue. The meiping was used by the Yuan as a wine container.
