Page 48 - Decorative Arts, Part II: Far Eastern Ceramics and Paintings, Persian and Indian Rugs and Carpets

19/2-43-1 (C-556)
Dish

Jin or Yuan dynasty, twelfth/thirteenth century
l
Glazed stoneware, 3.1 x 19.1 (iV4Xj /2)
Harry G. Steele Collection, Gift of Grace C. Steele

INSCRIPTIONS
Inscribed in running script on the base in ink in one column of and then the Jin dynasty. It is unknown, however,
three characters: Tianshuijun [heavenly river prefecture] 1 whether the ink inscription on the base of this dish is
coeval with its manufacture.
TECHNICAL NOTES That the manufacture of this family of wares extended
The green glaze is iridescent around the lip and in some areas beyond the boundaries of the Liao dynasty is also sup-
of the interior. Patches of encrusted earth on the exterior are ported by an early example in a French private collection,
the result of burial. The vessel is warped. The low foot-ring is
narrow and sharply trimmed. Within this the base is unglazed which bears an ink inscription on the base reading "made 5
with the exception of a splash of slip at the center and the three- by Chen in the second year of the Zhenghe reign [1112] ."
character inscription. Zhenghe was a reign title used by the Northern Song
dynasty emperor Huizong; the reign lasted from mi to
PROVENANCE 1117. That this ceramic type continued into the early Yuan
Harry G. Steele [1881-1941], Pasadena; his widow, Grace C. Steele. dynasty is indicated by a dish in the Tokyo National
Museum, decorated in the same manner as the National
6
ADE OF STONEWARE GLAZED with green, yellow, Gallery dish. It has an ink inscription on the base read-
M brown, and colorless glazes, this dish belongs to a ing "made in the sixth year of the Zhiyuan reign [1269]."
family of wares that can be dated stylistically to the This evidence supports a twelfth- or thirteenth-century
twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The body has been date for the National Gallery dish.
dipped in a white slip and then covered by glaze. The slip SL
extends several millimeters beyond the edge of the glaze
on the exterior. NOTES
The designs on the interior are incised into the clay 1. For two similar ink inscriptions, see the late Tang black-
through the slip and decorated with lead glazes. The glazed cuspidor in the Rockefeller Collection, New York
incised lines separate the different areas of color. A white (1979.129), and the Song Yaozhou celadon bowl in the same col-
spotted deer stands next to several stylized plants at the lection (1979.136); respectively published in Mowry 1983,399, fig.
2
center of the dish. The spots on the deer are incised, and 10, and Mino and Tsiang 1987, no. 58.
dots of brown iron oxide accentuate the deer's mouth, 2. The deer is a symbol of longevity. An image of a deer often
eye, ears, tail, and hooves. The cavetto is incised with functions as a rebus, as the word for deer (lu) is a homonym of
three concentric circles, two of which enclose a band of the word for official salary.
yellow flowers and white leaves. The green-glazed rim is 3. Mino 1973, pi. 24; Medley 1981, pi. 138; Sugimura 1974, 5, pis.
a standard decorative feature of this family of dishes. 15-17.
Several similar examples have been published. 3 4. Zang 1973,131.
This family of lead-glazed dishes is often associated 5. Riddell 1979, pi. 27.
with the Liao dynasty, which occupied northern China
and Manchuria after the fall of the Tang dynasty in 906. 6. Riddell 1979, pi. 36.
Potters under the Liao continued the lead glazing tech-
niques of the Tang, at the same time developing new
shapes and decorative motifs.
The inscription "Tianshui jun" may refer to one of
two prefectures in western China, either in Gansu or
Shaanxi Province. 4 foot-ring with
During the eleventh and twelfth centuries, both pre- inscription on base
fectures were within the borders of the Northern Song of 197243-1

32 D E C O R A T I V E A R T S