Page 150 - J.J. Lally Chinese Art CHRISTIE'S March 23 2023 NYC

AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE GUAN WARE VASE

Rosemary Scott, Independent Scholar

南宋官窯膽≡

蘇玫瑰 ġ 獨立學者

his elegant vase is a very rare Guan ware example of a Guan wares made for the Southern Song court, although greatly
form that is known in Chinese as a dan ping or danshi inspired by the imperial Ru wares of the Northern Song, tend to
Tping, literally meaning gallbladder vase. This name may have much darker body material. Where the glaze has either run
be a simple reference to the shape of the vessel, but could equally thin on the mouth of the vessel or where there is no glaze on the
carry with it the connotation of bravery or courage, which is also edge of the foot rim, the dark colour of the body shows through.
associated with the character dan. Essentially, it is a graceful pear- This aesthetically-appreciated feature of Guan wares is known in
shaped vase with columnar neck raising from sloping shoulders Chinese as zikou tiezu ‘purple mouth and iron foot’ and can clearly
and with a straight mouth, devoid of eversion. A shard from be seen on the current vase. Analyses carried out at the National
what appears to be a similar vase was found at the kiln site at Palace Museum, Taiwan, indicates that in general - ignoring trace
Wuguishan, in the suburbs of modern-day Hangzhou, and is now elements - the clay used at the southern Guan kilns contained
in the Tokyo National Museum (illustrated by Koyama Fujio in about 65% silica, 20-28% alumina, and 2-4.2% iron oxide (see Ts’ai
Toji Taikei, volume 36, Tokyo, 1978, p. 113, fig. 44, upper right; Ho-pi, “An Overview of the Exhibition of Sung Kuan Ware”,
and by Y. Mino and K.R. Tsiang in Ice and Green Clouds – Traditions Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, Taipei,
of Chinese Celadon, Indianapolis, 1986, p. 168, fig. 66a). This shard 1989, p. 29). This high iron content is responsible for the rich, dark
is significant in respect of the current vase, since Wuguishan has colour of the Guan body material.
been identified as the site of the Jiaotanxia kiln, which was one
of the two kilns producing Guan (official) wares for the Southern The glaze on the current vase and other high quality Guan wares
Song imperial court, after its capital was established at Lin’an is bluish in tone, relatively thick and deliberately crackled. The
(modern-day Hangzhou) following the fall of the Northern texture and crackle of Guan wares is believed to have been created
Song. Initially discovered in the 1930s, this site was thoroughly in deliberate emulation of jade. The glaze was applied in several -
investigated by Chinese archaeologists between 1985 and 1986 possibly as many as four - layers. This facilitated the achievement
(see Zhu Boqian, ‘A Pearl among Greenwares: Guan Ware of the of a glaze with richness of texture and colour. The glaze contained
Southern Song’, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 56, a high percentage of calcia, in the region of 15% - compared, for
1991-1992, London, 1993, pp. 29-35). The Southern Song Dynasty example, to 5-12% in Longquan glazes. This makes the Guan
Official Kiln Museum has been built at the Wuguishan site. ware glaze rather viscous and also promoted the crackle that is so

此≡清雋素雅，是一例彌足Ⅷ貴的官釉膽≡ Քल「膽式≡」
，因狀 查，詳見朱֬謙所著 " 1FBSM BNPOH (SFFOXBSFT (VBO 8BSF PG UIF
若懸膽，故लǯ膽≡之稱或僅指≡形，ֿ也ज能٨喻英勇膽識ǯ總體而 4PVUIFSO 4POH 全文載於《東方陶≢學會會刊》 年刊號
㈲，本品造型雅潔，१梨形，長直頸，溜肩，直ऑ無外翻ǯ東京國立博物 頁 倫敦：
ǯ如ի，南宋官窯博物館即坐落於烏龜山遺址ǯ
館藏烏龜山 ի杭州巿郊
出土殘器應源自近ַ≢≡，圖見小山富士夫
《陶磁大系》卷 頁 圖 ठӳ 東京：
，औज參照蓑㎒與蔣՞ 為南宋朝廷燒造的官窯器，雖然大致խս北宋汝窯御≢為藍本，ֿ其
কभ著的《*DF BOE (SFFO $MPVET ě 5SBEJUJPOT PG $IJOFTF $FMBEPO》 胎色明顯較深ǯ器ऑ釉薄或足沿素胎處，ज見深色胎土ǯ此即「紫ऑ鐵
頁 圖 B 印✄安納波利斯：
ǯ由於烏龜山→已推定為南宋朝 足」，這一官窯器的審美特徵在本拍品一㈇無遺ǯ根據臺北國立故宮
廷 北宋Տ國之後建都臨安的政權，位於ի日杭州
兩大官窯之一的郊 博物院的分析，除微量元素之外，南宋官窯胎土大多् 的氧化ⓝ，
壇Ӵ遺址，所ս就本拍品而㈲，該例殘器ज謂意義重大ǯ這一遺址發 氧化鋁佔 ，氧化鐵則為 ，就此ज參考蔡ক∣論文 "O
→於 年ջ，中國考ऒ專家曾於 及 年間展開深入全面的調 0WFSWJFX PG UIF &YIJCJUJPO PG 4VOH ,VBO 8BSF 詳見《宋官窯特展》

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