Page 86 - Chinese Ceramics the Linyushanren Collection Part 1 , Christie's
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Linyushanren Ge Ware Dish
A Treasure Among Classic Wares
Rosemary Scott,
International Academic Director Asian Art
Chinese connoisseurs of ceramics have traditionally esteemed Zhejiang Provincial Gazetteer) of 1561, it has little basis in fact, but
the wares of the Song dynasty (960-1279) above all others for was retold many times. The late Professor Wang Qingzheng 汪慶
their elegant forms enhanced with subtly-coloured monochrome 正 undertook considerable research into the literary evidence for
glazes. During the Ming dynasty when connoisseurs choose to the name Ge ware 哥 窯 . He was unable to locate a reference in
honour classes of Song ceramics which had been appreciated Song dynasty literature, but noted that the Yuan dynasty scholar
by the imperial court and members of the Song elite for their Kong Qi 孔齊 in his Candid Records of the Zhizheng Era (c. 1365,
refined beauty, they named Ru ( 汝 ), Guan ( 官 ), Ge ( 哥 ), Jun ( 鈞 ), Zhizheng zhi ji 至 正 直 記 ) mentioned both gege dong yao ( 哥 哥
and Ding ( 定 ) wares as the 五大名瓷 wu daming ci ‘Five Famous 洞窯 ‘kiln in the elder brother’s cave’) and gege yao ( 哥哥窯 ‘elder
Wares of the Song’. The beautiful little Ge ware dish in the current brother’s kiln’). The early Ming dynasty author Cao Zhao 曹昭 also
sale exemplifies all the lauded aesthetic qualities of this group. used the term gege yao in The Essential Criteria of Antiquities
(1388, Gegu yaolun 格 古 要 論 ). The first reference to ge yao in
After the Song court was forced, by the Jurchen invaders, to leave surviving literature appears to be in the 1428 publication Manual
their northern capital at 汴京 Bianjing (modern day 開封 Kaifeng), of Xuande Ritual Vessels (Xuande ding yi pu 宣德鼎彜譜 ). It seems
and even their temporary refuge at 應天府 Yingtianfu (modern 商 likely that these all refer to the same ware or kiln, but that the
丘 Shangqiu) in Henan province, they retreated south and set up name became simplified over time.
what became known as the Southern Song court at 臨安 Lin’an
(modern day 杭州 Hangzhou), in Zhejiang province. The Ru wares Ge and Guan wares were not only appreciated in their own era,
which had been made for the Northern Song Emperor Huizong but have been treasured by Chinese emperors of succeeding
(r. AD 1100-1126) had been produced in the north in Henan – a dynasties, as well as by less exalted collectors right up to
region then controlled by the Jurchen invaders – and were no the present day. The high regard in which such pieces were
longer available to the Song court. The Southern Song therefore held by the Qing Emperor Qianlong (1736-95), for instance, is
sought alternative ceramic wares and in time established kilns demonstrated by the text of some of the inscriptions which were
in the Hangzhou area to produce fine ceramics for the court. applied on his orders on both Ge and Guan wares in the Qing
The kilns mentioned in early texts – 郊壇下 Jiaotanxia and 修内 imperial collection and recorded in Complete Collection of Works
司 Xiuneisi – which made Guan wares have been discovered, by the Qing Emperor Gaozong [Qianlong], Qing Gaozong yuzhi
the latter at 老 虎 洞 Laohudong, and excavated. However those shiwen quanji ( 清 高 宗 御 製 詩 文 全 集 ). Several such inscriptions
making the other crackled-glaze ware, Ge ware, have not yet appear on early crackled wares in the collection of Sir Percival
been conclusively identified. These Ge wares and Guan wares David, as well as those in the palace collections. Part of one such
have been the subjects of intense research both within China inscription on a Ge ware crackled-glaze vase (inventory number
and elsewhere in recent years among scholars and collectors PDF 94) reads: ‘Despite the pattern of hundreds of intermingling
alike. Both Guan ware and Ge ware are characterized by subtly- crackle lines, its texture is fine and smooth to the touch. This
coloured glazes which were deliberately crackled to achieve a is the work of the talented Elder brother. One discovers that
fine network of lines over the surface of the vessel. One of the the value of these undecorated wares is the same as that of
reasons that these crackle lines were admired was probably that unpolished gems. How could one compare these and the more
they were reminiscent of the fissures in jade, the most prized of elaborate products of Xuan[de] and Cheng[hua]? Each has its
all natural materials. own individual charm’.
Traditionally Ge ware was attributed to one of the Song dynasty 百圾雖粉撫則平 處州陶實出難兄
kilns run by two brothers from the Zhang family - Zhang Shengyi 一般樸質稱珍重 那誠精工宣與成
and Zhang Sheng’er - in Chu prefecture, and the name Ge ware
was said to derive from the term gege (elder brother). Although The inscription is dated to the cyclical year yisi 乙 巳 year [AD
this story is even repeated in the Zhejiang tongzhi ( 浙 江 通 志 1785]. The text of the inscription appears with the title: ‘On a vase
The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics 古韻天成 — 臨宇山人珍藏（一） 84
