Page 62 - Six treasures of IMpeerial Art Sothebys Hong Kong April 3 2019

Fig. 1
Guan lobed jardinière, Xiuneisi kilns, Southern Song dynasty
© Collection of Palace Museum, Beijing
圖一
南宋 修內司窰海棠式花盆
© 北京故宮博物院藏品

imperial ware known from the Northern Song period (960- to be known as the ‘inner wares’, confirming the imperial
1127). One of the earliest references to Xiuneisi may be found patronage and sponsorship of the production of guan wares.
in the work of the Southern Song scholar Ye Zhi, who in the The passage also describes the exceptional quality of the
Tan zhai bihen [Composed measures from the Tan Studio] newly revived guan, how it was modelled on the official
wrote as follows: ware of the Northern Song period, and how it came to be
prized in the empire. The author further mentions the kiln
‘In the [new] capital a kiln for the firing and making of
wares was established and the ware was named guan. site at Jiaotanxia in the capital which, we are told, produced
a similar but lesser quality ware. Recent archaeological
[The production of guan was thus] revived crossing the discoveries have confirmed the existence of two different kiln
Yangtze River [in the south]. There was a Shao Chengzhang
who proposed the undertaking of the “Ware of the Rear sites, one at Wuguishan, south of the former imperial city,
Garden”. His sobriquet was Shaoju. He continued the the other at Laohudong (mentioned in the passage above)
which was located within the boundaries of the imperial city
neglected production [method] of the ancient capital and walls. Because of their locations and the different qualities
established the kiln [site] at Xiuneisi. [Xiuneisi] produced
celadon utensils called “inner wares” that used clear clay as of the sherds recovered, the Wuguishan kiln has been
standard. [These wares were] extremely fine with a glossy interpreted as the lesser, Jiaotanxia kiln, with the Laohudong
kiln being the exalted Xiuneisi manufactory.
3
coloured [glaze] that was lustrous and translucent. They
were treasured [by everyone] in the realm. Subsequently, The shape of the present jardinière is better known from
a different new kiln was established at Jiaotanxia [which another important imperial ware made at the Juntai kilns in
produced wares that were] greatly different from [that present-day Yuzhou prefecture in Henan province. Known
produced at the] old kiln.’ 2 as the ‘Numbered Jun’ wares, they are celebrated for their
shared similarities in glaze and colouration to the classic Jun
This passage, which may have been the original source vessels (Junyao), however, they are distinguished for their
material for Qianlong’s poem on the official imperial sophisticated forms and for the marks of a single Chinese
manufactory at Xiuneisi, is revealing in many ways. It
not only locates the new kiln site but also names Shao numeral on each vessel’s base, which gave the peculiar name
Chengzhang, eunuch chief to the court of Emperor Gaozong of the ware. See a number 7 and a number 4 Jun jardinière
of similar lobed form to the present vessel, in the Palace
(r. 1127-1162), in charge of the production of what came

60 SOTHEBY ’S SIX TREASURES