Page 42 - 2020 Sept Important Chinese Art Sotheby's NYC Asia Week

9/2/2020 Important Chinese Art | Sotheby's

and as such, Guan wares made for the Southern Song court, as well as their later Yuan and Ming dynasty versions were made in
very small numbers.

Guan ware was already celebrated in contemporary texts of the Southern Song period. It showcases Chinese potters'
technical mastery and aesthetic vision. Like great artists and artisans anywhere, they captured – perhaps inadvertently –
the zeitgeist of the period in their creations. The works of art they conceived embodied the leitmotifs of China’s highly educated
scholar-officials, the non-aristocratic ruling elite of the Song (960-1279). The unctuous glaze of the present washer with its
smooth pleasing texture and subtle gloss was achieved through gradual application of multiple layers and presumably successive
firings. The thick coating thus softly envelopes the elementary form to create an object that is pleasing to touch. The distinct web
of veins of the large-scale crackle was caused by different degrees of shrinkage between the glaze and body material, achieved
through a well-controlled cooling process after the last firing and subsequent staining. The lines move through the glaze in a
naturalistic manner, giving the whole piece the illusion of being carved out of a pebble of jade. The dark blackish body visible at the
foot adds depth to the glaze and gravitas to the whole object, as it subtly accentuates the shape. In the Qing dynasty (1644-1911),
when Guan ware was much copied by the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province, this dark stoneware body was generally
imitated by coating Jingdezhen’s white porcelain with a blackish-brown slip before glazing.

Washers of this form are extremely rare and are inspired by Guan Song prototypes; see Guan Song prototypes in the Palace
Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Guanyao ciqi / The Guan Kilns, Beijing, 2016, pl. 20, together with one with slightly shorter and
rounder sides and unglazed foot, pl. 19, and its Ming counterpart, pl. 52 (fig. 1); and another in the National Palace Museum, Taipei,
attributed to the Southern Song - Yuan dynasty, included in the exhibition Precious as the Morning Star. 12th-14th Century
Celadons in the Qing Court Collection, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2016, cat. no. IV-3 (fig. 2). Compare also a Ge example of
similar form but with shortened sides and an unglazed foot, attributed to the Southern Song dynasty, in the Palace Museum,
Beijing, published in Selection of Ge Ware. The Palace Museum Collection and Archaeological Discoveries, Beijing, 2017, pl. 20.

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