Page 230 - Sotheby's Asia Week March 2024 Chinee Art

495
AN EXCEPTIONAL AND RARE ‘JIAN’ BLACK- 南宋 建窰黑釉銀兔毫盞
GLAZED ‘HARE’S FUR’ BOWL, SOUTHERN SONG
DYNASTY
來源：
Japanese boxes (5) 日本私人收藏
Diameter 5 in., 12.7 cm
PROVENANCE
Japanese Private Collection.
The present bowl represents the classic form of tea ware
produced at the kilns in Jianyang in Fujian province, and is
particularly notable for its silver ‘hare’s fur’ markings. The
striking black glazes of Jian bowls can show various different
effects, when air bubbles in the glaze burst, leaving a pattern
of streaks, compared to hare’s fur, or spots compared to
oil spots, that can range in tone from rust brown to metallic
blue. With its enigmatic deep black glaze interspersed with
dark metallic silvery steaks, the present bowl is among the
one of rarest and most highly coveted examples.
Related Jian bowls of this type include one from the Arthur
M. Sackler Museum, exhibited in Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell
and Partridge Feathers, Harvard University Art Museums,
Cambridge, 1995, cat. no. 79; another, in the Palace
Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection
of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song
Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 204; a third bowl from the
Sir David Percival Collection and now in the British Museum,
London, published in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great
Collections, vol. 6, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 44; and a fourth from
the collection of Sakamoto Goro, sold in these rooms,
16th September 2014, lot 5.
Tea bowls of this type were renowned for their unique
suitability for drinking tea as the fine foam of the whisked
powdered tea contrasted attractively with the dark glaze of
the vessel. The thickness of the glaze also helped keep the
tea warm while protecting the hands of the drinker from the
hot beverage. Furthermore, the concave indentation below
the rim of the bowl allows a firm grip and is said to cause the
drinker to consume the tea in small sips, which is important
for the full appreciation and enjoyment of tea.
From literature it is known that the best quality Jian bowls
were carefully selected as tribute from Fujian to the court.
Jian bowls were also taken to Japan by Buddhist monks
who spent time in Chinese monasteries. ‘Temmoku’ is the
Japanese pronunciation of ‘Tianmu’, a mountain in Zhejiang,
north of Jianyang, where monastic communities favored
the use of Jian bowls for tea drinking. Tea consumption was
an established practice in Buddhist monasteries as tea was
prized as a stimulant in assisting Buddhist monks in their
meditation. For an extensive study on the history of Jian
ware and their transportation to Japan, see Nicole Coolidge
Rousmaniere, ‘Defining Temmoku: Jian Ware Tea Bowls
Imported into Japan’, Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge
Feathers, Cambridge, 1995, pp 43-58.
⊖ $ 60,000-80,000

456 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N11410 457