Page 128 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art 09/13/17

99
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION
AN EXTREMELY LARGE AND IMPORTANT
‘LINGWU’ CUT-GLAZE WINE JAR
XIXIA DYNASTY
of tapered ovoid form rising to a broad shoulder applied with
four strap-handles, the body deftly cut through the brown
glaze with two main registers of decoration, the lower band
with four large peony sprays within shaped cartouches
reserved on a ground of leaves and scored lines, the upper
band with four large peony blooms interspersed between the
handles, all within double bowstring borders and below wide
plain clear and brown-glazed borders at the shoulder, the
interior and lower body also glazed brown, the unglazed base
with a shallow countersunk medallion incised with a cross, the was excavated resulting in the discovery of shards and kiln
lower body pierced by a bung hole
Height 20½ in., 52 cm
PROVENANCE
The Malcolm Collection, probably acquired before 1953.
Sotheby’s London, 29th March 1977, lot 144.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 30th April 1991, lot 5.
Yeung Wing Tak Collection, Singapore.
Collection of R. Hat eld Ellsworth (1929-2014).
Christie’s New York, 21st March 2002, lot 135.
EXHIBITED
Yang Yongde kangli zhencang heiyou ci / Black Porcelain
from the Mr & Mrs Yeung Wing Tak Collection, Museum of
the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleum of the Nanyue King,
Guangzhou, 1997, cat. no. 21.
$ 120,000-150,000
Malcolm 1953
1977 3 29
1991 4 30 144
5 1260°C to result in an aesthetically pleasing contrast between
1929 2014
2002 3 21 135
1997 21
126 SOTHEBY’S
This magni cent jar belongs to a rare group of wares from the
Xixia (also known as Tangut or Western Xia) dynasty in the
northwest of China, which coexisted with the Song, Liao and
Jin dynasties who all produced their own wares. The discovery
of the Lingwu kiln was initiated by the lack of records from
this kingdom, which was destroyed in 1227 and remained a
mystery until relics and literary works in the Xixia language
were excavated amongst the ruins of the city of Heicheng in
northwest Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in the early
20th century.
The Lingwu kiln was located at Ciyaobao of Lingwu country,
Ningxia, which lies 50 kilometres south of the capital of
Xixia, Yinchuan, and was one of the major sites of ceramic
production under the Xixia. From 1984 to 1986, the kiln site
implements piled up four meters deep that covered an area
of 200,000 square meters. A comprehensive report was
published by the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing, in 1995, Ningxia Lingwu
yao fajue baogao, which published shards of vessels decorated
with the same technique as the present discovered at the site.
Furthermore, incised marks, similar to that on the present
jar, have been found on the base of bowl shards excavated
at Lingwu, and several jars of related form with four ridged
handles and wide unglazed bands at the shoulder appear on
many excavated vessels.
Wares of this carved type were produced by glazing the
entire yellowish body and then marking out the central and
background parts. Within the central area, three techniques
of glaze removal were employed: champlevé in the scraping
o the glaze to make the outline of the peonies; incising for
the petals and leaves; and sgra ato in the removal of thicker
carved lines. For the background, only oblique lines were used
to accentuate the delicacy of the peony. The clay consisted
of little sand to result in hard and compact bodies that turned
pale yellow after ring, while the black glaze was composed of
a type of local black slip with iron oxide as the coloring agent. It
was red in an oxidizing kiln at a temperature of approximately
the glazed and exposed body, as well as a textural contrast
between the glossy glaze and matte unglazed body. These
techniques show that Xixia ceramic production was strongly
in uenced by Cizhou and Ding wares.
Further examples of Xixia jars decorated with similar cut-
glaze techniques include one in the Meiyintang Collection,
illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the
Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, pls 454 and 455.
See also a white ‘cut-glaze’ meiping with leafy peony design,
from the collection of Ruth and Bruce Dayton and now in the
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, acc. no. 2001.8.
Of the related examples, it is interesting to note not only the
similarities but also the subtle di erences in the gestural
quality of the carving, the proportions of the blossoms and
scrolling of the leaves which highlight the individual e ort in
their making.