Page 46 - Sotheby's New York Linyushanren Part IV Auction September 13, 2018

Cizhou sgraffato decoration, as displayed by the current vase, is
remarkably diffcult to execute successfully. This technique involved
covering the vessel with a white slip, and after drying applying a dark
slip over the top. Areas of the dark slip were then cut away leaving
the decoration in dark brown against a white ground. Details of the
decoration were also incised through the dark slip, using a sharp point,
to reveal the paler slip beneath. The vessel was then covered in a
colorless transparent glaze and the piece fred. The decorator had to
employ great skill and care in cutting the ground of the decoration
away, since it was diffcult not to cut too deeply and remove some of
the pale slip along with the dark.
A small number of related vases using this decorative technique
are published, such as the vase in The Matsuoka Museum of Art,
illustrated in Selected Masterpieces of Oriental Ceramics, Tokyo, 1984,
no. 23; and a vase of similar form and decoration but with a rounded
body is published in in T. Mikami, Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 13, Tokyo,
1981, p. 238, no. 229. The current type also has a green glazed
version, such as the Cizhou sgraffato vase of very similar proportion
and decoration in the Ataka collection, illustrated in Masterpieces of
Old Chinese Ceramics from Ataka Collection, Osaka, 1972, Catalogue,
no. 21. Another example with a compressed body is in the collection
of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated by He Li, in
Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, no.
319. Compare, also, Cizhou vases of similar form and pattern, but
decorated in slip painting and incising technique, such as two vases in
the Gotoh Art Museum, Japan, illustrated in Mayuyama Seventy Years,
Tokyo, 1976, vol. 1, pp. 188-189, nos. 559-560.

此例磁州窯瓶所用之剔花工藝甚爲繁複。工匠先於器身施白色化妝
土，待其乾後再罩一層深色化妝土。其後，在深色化妝土上刻出紋
樣，剔去紋飾以外的部分，露出其下的白地。紋飾細部亦如是，用尖
細工具刻花以顯露下方之白化妝土。最後全器再薄施一層透明釉，進
窯燒製。這種在白色化妝土上罩一層深色化妝土，剔掉部分黑土以形
成圖案的工藝，唯有熟諳材質，手藝超群的巧匠方能駕馭。
有少量使用此工藝之瓶經著錄：如松岡美術館藏一例，載於《松岡美
術館名品展 : 東洋陶磁の精華 : 特別企画展》，東京，1984年，編
號23；一器形、花紋相似但器身較為圓潤之例，載於三上次郎著《
世界陶磁全集》第13卷，東京，1981年，238頁，編號229。安宅舊
藏一例器形、紋樣均極為相似之綠釉磁州剔花瓶，載於《中國陶磁名
品展：安宅コレクション 》，大阪，1972年，圖錄編號21。舊金山
亞洲藝術博物館另藏一例器型較扁窄之花瓶，載於賀利著《Chinese
Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey》，紐約，1996年，
編號319。亦可參考日本五島美術館藏兩件器形、紋樣相似，但以剔
刻化妝土工藝裝飾之例，載於《龍泉集芳：創業七十周年記念》，東
京，1976年，第一集，188-189頁，編號559-560。

44 Masterpieces of Cizhou Ware: The Linyushanren Collection, Part IV 磁州窯集珍：古韻天成-臨宇山人珍藏（四）