Page 66 - Sotheby's Imperial Chiense Porcelain Nov 4 2020 London

PROPERTY FROM A GERMAN PRIVATE COLLECTION 240
LOTS 240–256 A JIZHOU RESIST-DECORATED 南宋 十二/十三世紀
‘PRUNUS’ VASE, MEIPING 吉州窰黑釉剔花折枝梅紋梅瓶
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY,
SONG: UNDERSTATEMENT IN BLACK AND WHITE 12TH/13TH CENTURY 來源
於1996年購自香港長安美術
of shouldered form rising to a short
REGINA KRAHL
neck and rolled rim, decorated around
the sides with two flowering prunus 出版
Song – when thinking of this dynasty In works of art, monochrome The appeal of things black, sprigs, the blooms executed in wax- 懷古堂Journal，vol. XIX
(960-1279) what comes to mind is lacquer and ceramics, both decidedly however, was a totally novel resist technique with brown-painted
a meritocracy of intellectuals who, unpretentious, became the media of development that speaks for the detailing, the shoots swiftly carved
besides serving the court as civil the time. The Song was the period sophisticated nature of Song through the thick dark brown glaze,
officials, spent their time composing when the ceramic medium came into aesthetics. Black wares had been extending to the foot, the footring
poetry and prose, training their brush its own and potters fully realized and produced in China even prior to white unglazed showing the grey ware burnt
in calligraphy and painting, and exploited its possibilities. Stoneware, wares, but with dark and dull colours slightly orange in the firing
discussing their collections of antiques which is highly practical, but retains generally considered undesirable, they Height 19.5 cm, 7¾ in.
and strangely shaped rocks with like- a rough touch, was the ideal vehicle were not highly appreciated. For black
minded friends. to supply scholar-officials with ceramics to become acceptable even PROVENANCE
The arts and crafts of the Tang modest, down-to-earth works, as food vessels required a jolt of the Acquired from Capital Gallery, Hong
and the Song present a fundamentally whose individual variations at the imagination, disregard of traditional Kong, in 1996.
different picture; the two periods same time provided ample room for associations and openness towards
seem in fact like opposites in their connoisseurship. Nuances in overall new concepts of beauty. This probably LITERATURE
aesthetic approaches. As some of the finish, in potting and proportions, in arrived through the use of black Jian Kaikodo Journal, vol. XIX.
country’s great thinkers propagated glaze tone, texture and decorative wares from Fujian as tea bowls in
– and practised – a simple, frugal life effects offered endless possibilities south-Chinese monasteries, where the £ 30,000-50,000
style, the display of riches no longer for knowledgeable observers to salubrious drink offered in a spiritual
elicited admiration; and as Song compare and grade fundamentally atmosphere ennobled also the bowls
philosophers reflected on the roots of similar ceramic vessels, to focus on the beverage was served in. Even the
China’s culture, they focused attention often small differences between an Northern Song Emperor Huizong
on the country’s own traditions and in ordinary item and a masterpiece, (r. 1100-1126), one of the greatest
the process debased the attraction of and to appreciate even accidental connoisseurs of the time, adopted this
anything foreign. Luxury came to be outcomes from the firing. taste and recommended black tea
defined in totally different ways from Kilns had sprung up all over the bowls in his Treatise on Tea.
before. As preciousness of the material country, some making a name for Since rich ornamentation was
or input of labour no longer were the themselves by specializing in a certain spurned, the potters did not have to
decisive factors in the evaluation of type, but all experimenting with a wide glance at achievements in other media,
an object, its relative value was no range of techniques, thus offering a but were free to experiment with their
longer immediately obvious to all. seemingly inexhaustible choice. With own materials and technical means.
The new criteria for excellence were the high firing temperatures required Carving and moulding, always very
more subjective, involving abstract for stonewares, the range of available subdued in effect, were the preferred
concepts such as individuality glaze tones was limited and colours methods of decorating white wares;
and inventiveness, and therefore were subdued; but colour does not uneven splashes, like natural markings
accessible only to a small initiated seem to have been high on clients’ on feathers and furs, or simple brush
elite, even though the coveted wish lists. The ‘colour’ white with its strokes in muted browns for almost
objects themselves were much more associations of purity and cleanliness abstract designs became characteristic
widely available. of course had an age-old appeal and decoration of black stonewares. The
While the elaborate and detailed, the strive to create white wares was reserved silhouettes on Jizhou wares
lavishly coloured Tang painting style much older than the Song. When from Jiangxi might have been inspired
still lived on at the painting academy, white stonewares became available by tricks used in ink painting, where in
avant-garde amateur painters just prior to the Tang dynasty, they snow scenes, for example, the motif
experimented at the same time amazed anyone who saw them, but itself can be left blank, spared out
with a radical style of monochrome the taste for plain vessels like those against a darkened background.
ink painting that, very much like from the Ding kilns of Hebei or the The development at Jingdezhen of
calligraphy, relied on spontaneous qingbai wares from Jingdezhen in white porcelains painted in contrasting
strokes by masters of the brush. Jiangxi fully developed only in the colours rang in the end of the black and
Themes were thus often reduced to Song. Even kilns that were not blessed white stoneware tradition in China soon
minimalist representations that leave with white-firing clays tried to produce after the Song. Yet Song craftsmanship
more to the imagination than they white wares at the time by hiding and style remained highly influential to
actually depict. This contemporary art their beige and grey-firing clays under this day, as studio potters all over the
form proved influential also for other layers of white slip before applying as world seek inspiration in Song stonewares
forms of artistic expression. colourless a glaze as possible. and aim at achieving similar results.

128 Buyers are liable to pay both the hammer price (as estimated above) and the buyer’s premium together with any applicable taxes and Artist’s Resale Right 129
(which will depend on the individual circumstances). Refer to the Buying at Auction and VAT sections at the back of this catalogue for further information.