Page 9 - Longsdorf Collection of Song Ceramics, 2013, J.J. Lally, New York

1. A Carved Yaozhou Celadon Bowl
Northern Song Dynasty (A.D. 960–1127)

with thinly potted flaring sides rising from a small ring foot, gently rounded up to a wide mouth
divided into six lobes by shallow notches at the lipless rim, and decorated on the interior with a
deftly carved pattern of two large peony blooms borne on curling stems rising from opposite sides
and sprouting trefoil feathery leaves completely filling the background in with a lush, luxurious
symmetrical design below a wide plain band around the mouth, the exterior carved with deeply
undercut straight lines radiating from the knife-pared shallow foot to a wide plain border defined
by a single line below the rim, covered inside and out with a lustrous translucent olive-green glaze
which gathers to a darker tone in the carved lines and combed details, giving depth and sharp
definition to the designs, the underside of the foot wiped clean of glaze and the exposed stoneware
burnt reddish-brown in the firing, the recessed base splashed with glaze.
Diameter 7 ⁄8 inches (19.5 cm)
5
A carved Yaozhou celadon shallow bowl with plain rim, decorated on the interior with a similar pattern of twin peonies
amidst feathery leaves in the collection of The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka is illustrated in The Masterpieces of
Yaozhou Ware, Osaka, 1997, p. 52, no. 66. Compare also the carved Yaozhou bowl with plain rim and plain exterior, similarly
decorated on the interior with twin peonies and dense scrolling foliage, excavated at the site of the Yaozhou kilns, published
in line drawings in the excavation report, Song dai Yaozhou yaozhi (The Yaozhou Kiln Site of the Song Period), Beijing, 1998,
p. 111, pl. 62, no. 6.
北宋 耀州青瓷刻花牡丹紋碗 徑 19.5 厘米