Page 130 - Sotheby's Arcadian beauty Song Pottery Oct. 3, 2018

3112

宋 磁州窰白地褐彩蘆葦羅漢盌
PROPERTY FROM THE LE CONG TANG COLLECTION

A RARE CIZHOU WHITE- 來源：
GROUND PAINTED BOWL 香港蘇富比1991年10月29日，編號12
紐約蘇富比2011年3月23日，編號523
SONG DYNASTY

potted with a deep U-shaped body supported on a short
splayed foot and gently tapering inwards at the mouth, the
exterior freely painted in dark brown on an ivory-white slip
with undulating reeds extending across the vessel, all veiled
under a clear glaze
w. 11.5 cm, 4½ in.

PROVENANCE
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 29th October 1991, lot 12.
Sotheby’s New York, 23rd March 2011, lot 523.
HK$ 500,000-700,000
US$ 64,000-89,500

Freely painted with an attractive design of undulating reeds,
this cup is characteristic of wares produced at the Cizhou
type kilns in Ci county, Hebei province. A layer of white slip
was applied over the body, which was then painted with dark
brown pigments in rapid brushstrokes before being enhanced
by a coat of clear glaze. Such vividly contrasting brown-and-
white design is reminiscent of calligraphy and ink paintings
and thus vessels such as the present would have been highly
sought after by the literati during the Song dynasty (960-
1279).
Bowls of this type are known in a variety of sizes, proportions
and designs; for one of related form, compare a larger
bowl painted with floral scrolls, with a fitted cover, from the
collection of Madame Paul Pechère, included in the Oriental
Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of The Sung Dynasty,
London, 1960, cat. no. 93; and another painted with peony leaf
sprays, attributed to the Jin dynasty, from the Avery Brundage
collection and now preserved in the Asian Art Museum of
San Francisco, San Francisco, exhibited in Freedom of Clay
and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz’u-
chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Indianapolis Museum
of Art, Indianapolis, 1980, cat. no. 66. See also two small
jars rendered in this painterly style, but of ovoid form and
decorated with three large floral sprays, sold in these rooms,
the first from the T.Y. Chao collection, sold 18th November
1986, lot 18, and the other, 5th April 2017, lot 3201.

128 SOTHEBY’S 蘇富比