Page 23 - Chinese Ceramics the Linyushanren Collection Part 1 , Christie's

Lot 2806 Lot 2817

those in the Yue glaze, and remain intact after firing and, together with gas bubbles, ENDNOTES
cause the translucence typical of the Longquan glaze. The colour and texture of this
glaze can be fully appreciated on an elegant long-necked vase in the Linyushanren 1 Illustrated by Richard Edwards in The
Collection (Lot 2807). The translucency of the glaze did not encourage the use of World Around the Chinese Artist: Aspects
incising and carving to the same extent as on ceramics with transparent glazes. In of Realism in Chinese Painting, University
the Southern Song period the two most popular forms of decoration were the carving of Michigan, Ann Arbour, 1987, p. 18, fig.
of overlapping petals around the exterior of bowls and dishes, and the application 1-7.
of sprig-moulded elements under the glaze on the interior of open wares. Both of
these decorative features can be seen on a dish in the current sale (Lot 2806). On 2 For further discussion of this topic
the exterior are overlapping petals, while on the interior of the dish is one of the most see Rosemary Scott, ‘Chinese Classic
popular sprig-moulded designs – paired fish. The fish are confronted, nose to tail, Wares from a Japanese Collection –
and appear to swim in a circle. The translucent glaze softens the features of the fish, Song Ceramics from the Linyushanren
while also providing a suggestion that they are in water. Collection’, Arts of Asia, vol. 44, no. 2, 2014,
pp. 93-104.
Two of the most prized wares of the Southern Song, which were also included
among the ‘Five Famous Wares of the Song Dynasty’, are Guan ware and Ge ware. 3 For a summary of this research see
These two wares have been the subjects of intense research both within China Christie’s, The Classic Age of Chinese
and elsewhere in recent years. Both Guan ware and Ge ware are characterized Ceramics – An Exhibition of Song Treasures
by glazes which were deliberately crackled to achieve a fine network of lines over from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong
the surface of the vessel. It is likely that one of the reasons that these crackle lines Kong, 2012, p. 147.
were admired was that they were reminiscent of the fissures in jade, the natural
material most prized by Chinese connoisseurs. Ge and Guan wares were not only 4 Fujio Koyama (ed.), Soji(Song Ceramics),
appreciated in their own era, but have been treasured by collectors to the present day. Tokyo, 1943, no. 62. For a full listing of
The high regard in which such pieces were held by the great Qing dynasty imperial exhibitions and literature see Christie’s,
collector, the Qianlong Emperor (1736-95), for example, is demonstrated by the fact The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics -
that Ge ware dishes appear in several informal portraits of the emperor, while he An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the
ordered a number of Ge and Guan vessels in the imperial collection to be inscribed Linyushanren Collection, op. cit., p. 152, no.
with laudatory poems. There has been much discussion regarding the distinction 63.
between Guan ware and Ge ware, but the most widely recognized distinguishing
features of Ge ware is that its softly opaque glaze has the so-called jinsi tiexian ‘golden 5 W.D. Kingery and P.B. Vandiver, Ceramic
thread and iron wire’ crackle. This can be seen at its best on the exceptional dish in Masterpieces, New York, 1986, pp. 93-
the current sale (Lot 2817). Further discussion of this dish can be found in the essay 109; W.D. Kingery and P.B. Vandiver, ‘Song
which forms part of the catalogue entry for the dish in the current volume. dynasty Jun (Chun) ware glazes’, Bulletin
of the American Ceramic Society, vol. 62,
The Linyushanren Collection offers scholars and collectors a unique opportunity no. 1, pp. 1269-79; Chen Xianqiu et al., ‘The
to appreciate a wide range of exceptional Song ceramics, only a few of which have structural characteristics of Henan antique
been highlighted in this brief introduction. Jun ware sherds and the evidence of their
two kinds of phase separation’, Journal of
the Chinese Silicate Society, vol. 9, 1981,
pp. 245-54; Guo Yanyi and Li Guozhen,
‘Scientific Analysis of ancient Jun
wares’, Proceedings of 1989 International
Symposium on Ancient Ceramics,
Shanghai, 1989, pp. 66-72.

6 New discoveries were made during
excavations at Juntai in 2004. New
research was presented at two symposia
– one at Yuzhou in 2005, and the other at
Shenzhen in 2006.

21 The Linyushanren Collection, Part I