Page 228 - Christie's Fine Chinese Paintings March 19 2019 Auction

1731
A CIZHOU SGRAFFIATO ‘PEONY’ MEIPING
NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY (AD 960-1127)
The vase is carved through the dark brown slip to the white slip ground with A Cizhou meiping with similar carved decoration in the collection of The
a broad band of leafy peony scroll bearing six prominent blossoms between Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated by S. G. Valenstein
bands of overlapping, diagonal petals on the shoulder and above the foot, all in A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 93, pl. 88. Another,
under with a clear glaze. formerly in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Sedgwick, and now in the
12 in. (30.5 cm.) high, Japanese wood box British Museum, was included in the International Exhibition of Chinese Art,
London, 1935-1936, p. 121, no. 1248. A further similar example in the National
$60,000-80,000 Museum of Korea, Seoul, is illustrated by Gakuji Hasebe in Sekai Toji Zenshu,
Tokyo, 1977, vol. 12, Song dynasty, p. 278, no. 288. A comparable Cizhou
meiping from the Linyushanren Collection was sold at Christie’s, New York,
PROVENANCE 22 March 2018, lot 516.
Private collection, Japan.
The result of Oxford thermoluminescence test no. P102z76 is consistent with
The very dificult technique used to produce the striking design on this vase the dating of this lot.
was developed at the Cizhou kilns in the Northern Song dynasty. It involved
the application of a pale slip to the unfred stoneware vessel, followed by a 北宋 磁州窯黑剔花牡丹紋梅瓶
dark slip. The outline of the decoration was then incised through the dark
top layer and the background area of the design was cut away to reveal
the pale slip beneath. Details, such as stamens and leaf veins, were also
incised through the dark upper layer either with a fne point or a comb-like
instrument. The thin, colorless glaze could then be applied and the vessel
fred. This technique required very skillful application, since the slip layers
were both relatively soft and the decorator had to judge exactly how deep
to cut in order to remove the dark slip layer without accidentally cutting
away the lower pale layer. When successfully rendered, the technique was,
however, ideal for the depiction of dramatic large-scale foral motifs like
those seen on the present vase.

(another view)

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