Page 17 - Chinese Ceramics the Linyushanren Collection Part 1 , Christie's

Lot 2833 Lot 2832
Lot 2834
is composed of four leafy sprays painted in a fluent, calligraphic, style. This more A Very Rare Carved Cizhou ‘Peony’Vase
fluent style was only possible because the design was applied with a brush and not Lot 2833
using the sgraffiato technique. Painting in thick slip onto another unfired slip would, A Painted Cizhou Deep Bowl
nevertheless, have required considerable expertise. A third Cizhou decorative Lot 2832
technique seen on an item in the current sale appears on the small polychrome A Painted Cizhou Polychrome ‘Fish’ Bowl
dish (Lot 2832). Perhaps the most innovative decorative technique seen on Cizhou
wares was overglaze enamelling, which seems to have been adopted in the late The Linyushanren Collection, Part I
12th/early 13th century. On current evidence, this may be an instance of a decorative
technique appearing first on a popular ware, and then being transferred to
porcelains made at the imperial kilns in the Yuan dynasty. On Cizhou wares a pale
slip was applied to the clay body and a colourless transparent glaze was applied
over the top. The piece was then fired to stoneware temperature. After the piece
was cooled, lead-fluxed overglaze enamels were applied to the surface of the fired
glaze and the vessel was fired a second time at a lower temperature. The most
popular overglaze colours in the Cizhou palette were green and red, but yellow was
also used. The current dish is decorated with a design of fish amongst aquatic
plants – which may have been a reference to philosophical Daoism, particularly in
the 莊子 Zhuangzi, attributed to Zhuangzi, or ‘Master Zhuang’ (369-286 BC), who,
after Laozi, was one of the earliest philosophers of what has become known as
Daojia, or the School of the Way. Among other things, Zhuangzi consistently uses
fish to exemplify creatures who achieve happiness through being in tune with
their environment. As part of a much more complex discussion in chapter 17 (Qiu
shui), Zhuangzi, who is crossing a bridge over the Hao river with Huizi, notes: ‘See
how the small fish are darting about [in the water]. That is the happiness of fish.’
Significantly there are several paintings dated to the late Song and early Yuan
dynasties, which are entitled The Pleasure of Fish (or the Happiness of Fish), which is
a direct reference to this quotation. One such hand-scroll, dated to the 12th century
and attributed to Lui Cai, is in the St. Louis Art Museum.1

While the majority of Cizhou wares were made at kilns in the north of China, another
early kiln complex known for its varied and innovative decorative techniques was at
Jizhou in Jiangxi province, in the south. The Jizhou dark glazes contain about 5.5%
iron oxide, but also contain about 1% of manganese oxide, and this mixture gives a
brownish-black with a softer, more matt surface compared to the glossy surface of
the other Song dynasty black wares. The Linyushanren Collection includes Jizhou
vessels decorated in several different techniques, but only two will be highlighted in
this brief introduction. One of the most striking and popular interior decorations on

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