Page 20 - March 17, 2020 Impotant Chinese Art, Sotheby's, New York

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PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR was used for storing wine. Usually consumed at a warm
A BLACK-GLAZED ‘RIBBED’ ‘TULU’ VASE temperature, alcohol would have been transferred to a ewer
NORTHERN SONG / JIN DYNASTY or smaller bottle for pouring into the cup.
White-ribbed dark wares were mostly produced in the
the domed body rising to a narrow waisted neck and lipped twelfth and thirteenth centuries, at numerous kilns in Henan,
rim, applied to a narrow and waisted neck to a lipped rim, the Hebei, and Shandong provinces. Robert D. Mowry discusses
body applied with a row of white vertical ribs, covered overall this type of ware in detail in the catalogue to the exhibition
with a lustrous black glaze stopping neatly at the foot, the Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese
countersunk base unglazed revealing the grayish stoneware Brown-and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard
body University Art Museum, Cambridge, 1996. He suggests that
Height 8⅝ in., 22 cm ribs of white slip were first decoratively used during the
Tang dynasty (618-907), on ceramics imitating lacquer or
The present vase is one of the finest examples of black silver, mainly to segment the interiors of open-form vessels
wares with ribbed decoration. The seemingly easy, yet (p. 176). In the tenth and eleventh centuries they were
highly effective method of decorating a black jar with parallel sparingly added to the exteriors of vessels, before emerging
white lines was adopted by many northern kilns during the as an important decorative scheme in their own right by the
Song dynasty (960-1279). Qualities, shapes and details twelfth century. Although the kilns were mainly located in
of the execution, however, vary considerably. Extant dark north China, the still very limited evidence from the various
vessels with bright lines are mostly adorned in a relatively sites does not yet permit conclusive attribution of individual
spontaneous manner. It is extremely rare to find an example pieces to any particular kiln group.
with a finish as refined as that on present piece. The fine and
straight white ribs, running in parallel all the way from the Compare examples of similar design and form, but with a
top to the bottom, point to the skillful control craftsmen were taller, waisted neck, including one now in the Asia Society,
able to exert over the medium at the time. New York (accession no. 1979.143), included in the Harvard
exhibition, ibid., cat. no. 62; another sold at Christie’s New
However popular vessels of this design were, they usually York, 13th September 2018, lot 810; and a smaller vessel
came in the form of wide-mouthed jars with or without sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th November 2016, lot 3386.
handles; pieces of the present form are extremely rare. This
impressive shape, with small mouth, broad shoulders and
wide base, is known as tuluping, or truncated meiping, and ⊖ $ 200,000-300,000

北宋 / 金 黑釉棱線紋小口瓶

36 SOTHEBY’S COMPLETE CATALOGUING AVAILABLE AT SOTHEBYS.COM/N10644 37