Page 17 - March 17, 2020 Impotant Chinese Art, Sotheby's, New York

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PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR vessel, however, is unusually elegant in the fine texturing
A SUPERB BLACK-GLAZED ‘CIZHOU’ of the negative space, which distinguishes it from typical
SGRAFFIATO ‘PEONY’ ‘TULU’ VASE sgraffiato wares in which the ground framing the principal
design is carved to a ubiquitous white. Here, the space
NORTHERN SONG / JIN DYNASTY between the floral scrolls is filled with fine hatching in
different directions to contrast the bold peony blossoms and
the bulbous ovoid body rising from a flat foot and leaves. The fluid lines of carved decoration, together with
countersunk base to a short constricted neck and lipped rim,
freely carved through the top layer of black slip to the ivory- the color scheme, are reminiscent of calligraphy and thus
white layer beneath with four large peony blooms borne on vessels such as the present piece would have been highly
prized by literati.
a meandering scroll with trefoil leaves against a combed
ground, all between wavy overlapping petal-lappets around The vase is also notable for its well-proportioned form, with
the shoulder and the foot, applied overall with a transparent small mouth, broad shoulder and wide base, which is known
glaze stopping neatly around the unglazed foot as ‘tuluping’ or ‘truncated meiping’. This form, which was
Height 9¼ in., 23 cm produced at many northern kilns, is closely related to the
taller meiping, a quintessential Song shape, but enjoyed
Some of the most attractive Cizhou wares are those made by a much shorter period of production. It was produced for
various kilns in northern China with designs reserved in black only about a hundred years during the eleventh and twelfth
against a white ground. The complicated technique used centuries, leaving behind a relatively small number of extant
to create the striking decoration in contrasting colors seen examples.
on the present piece is known by the Italian term sgraffiato, Similar vases, but lacking the linear patterns in the
literally ‘scratched’. It first appeared around the late background, are held in important public collections
eleventh century, and was created through the application
of contrasting layers of slip or glaze. On the present bottle, a worldwide. See one with a different neck and an additional
decorative band encircling the shoulder, in the Osaka City
layer of black slip was applied over white slip, which was later Museum of Fine Arts, included in the exhibition Charm of
carefully incised to create decorative patterns by revealing Black & White Ware: Transition of Cizhou Type Wares, Osaka
the pristine white layer beneath, and then finally covered
by a layer of clear glaze. This labor-intensive and time- City Museum of Fine Arts, Osaka, 2002, cat. no. 50; and
another in the Baur Collection, Geneva, with a simpler peony
consuming technique adds a sense of opulence and luxury to design, illustrated in Mary Tregear, Song Ceramics, London,
the stoneware.
1982, p. 17, fig. 6.
What makes this vase exceptional are the linear ground
patterns on its surface. Large peony scrolls are a popular
motif on vases decorated with the sgraffiato technique. This ⊖ $ 200,000-300,000
北宋 / 金 磁州窰黑釉劃牡丹紋小口瓶

30 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10644 31