Page 98 - Sothebys HK Dragon Emperor April 2024

official kilns and their systems], Beijing, 2012, pp. yellowish-grey body and an octagonal foot, also found
173-174, figs 9-13). The silhouette of the present vase at the Jiaotanxia site, is in the collection of the Tokyo
echoes that of the glass bottle vases from the Near East. National Museum, accession no. TG-2294. Deng Heying
Compare a slightly shorter 10th-11th century bottle with and Tang Junjie suggest that the production of octagonal
an everted hexagonal mouth, long ribbed neck, facetted vases was limited to the earlier phase of the Jiaotanxia
body and nonagonal foot in the Corning Museum of kiln (Nan Song guanyao [Guan Ware of the Southern
Glass, attributed to the Near East, possibly made in Song], Hangzhou, 2008, p. 73. A celadon-glazed shard
Iran or Iraq (accession no. 54.1.107, h. 14.9 cm, fig. 1). with an octagonal unglazed foot of a dark brown tone was
See also a 9th-10th century facetted glass bottle in the collected at Wansongling, which is believed by some to be
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, attributed to the initial guan manufactory, neiyao or ‘inner kiln’ (Mou
Iran, with a cylindrical neck and circular foot but a more Baolei, Highlights of Celadon. Southern Song Official Kiln
everted mouth rim (accession no. 63.159.5, h. 16.5 cm). Tongjian, Hangzhou, 2017, p. 90, leftmost bottom right).
Many fragments with an ochre body sandwiched by dark
Comparing the archaeological finds in Hangzhou with grey skins were found in the area, suggesting under-firing
the Southern in a reduction
Song dynasty atmosphere (p.
texts, there is, With its angularity enveloped in multiple layers of 98).
to some extent, jade-celadon glaze, the present vase stands for the
academic This type of
consensus refined taste of the Song, celebrating the delicate octagonal vase
that the site balance between lines and curves, appealing to the is extremely
at Wuguishan, rare, and only
south of senses of sight and touch. a handful
the former of extant
imperial city, examples are
is the Jiaotanxia kiln mentioned in the literature, and known, all with subtle differences in their silhouettes.
the other at Laohudong within the former palace area Among them is the renowned Ataka octagonal vase –
is the exalted Xiuneisi manufactory. However, with the slightly shorter and enveloped in an opaque celadon
multitude of shards unearthed in the neighbouring glaze with faint crackles – which shares the same
regions, the discourse about the exact locations of the pedigree as the present vase; Edward T. Chow handled
kilns mentioned in the ancient text continues. it merely a few years after selling the present vase.
Reputedly from the Qing court, it was formerly in the
Related octagonal vases have been discovered at various collections of F.C. Harrison, Sir A. Daniel Hall, Robert C.
sites in Hangzhou. A fragmentary ochre-glazed bottle Bruce and Ataka Eiichi, sold twice in our London rooms,
vase of comparable size and octagonal section was 1st July 1943, lot 70 and 12th May 1953, lot 60, and once
excavated from Jiaotanxia kilns at Wuguishan, illustrated at Christie's London, 12th October 1970, lot 77, and
in Guanyao ciqi /The Guan Kilns, Beijing, 2016, pl. 91 (h. eventually entered the Museum of Oriental Ceramics,
21.8 cm, fig. 2). A shard of a pale celadon vase with a Osaka (h. 21 cm, accession no. 00569, fig. 3).

fig. 3. A guan ware celadon-glazed octagonal vase, Southern Song fig. 4. A guan ware celadon-glazed octagonal vase, Southern Song
dynasty, h. 21 cm, The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (gift dynasty, h. 21.9 cm, formerly in the John Henry Levy collection, sold at
of SUMITOMO Group, the ATAKA Collection), photograph by Muda Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7th April 2015, lot 1
Tomohiro, accession no. 00569
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