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The Classic Age of Chinese CeramicsRosemary Scott,International Academic Director Asian ArtThe Chinese ceramics in this catalogue are from the Linyushanren Collection,which was assembled by a Japanese collector, who has applied dedication, discernment and connoisseurship to his collecting. He made his initial purchases of Chinese ceramics in the 1970s, and during the first 20 years of his collecting career he acquired works from the Han, Tang, Song and Ming dynasties. It was, however, the pieces from the classic period of Chinese ceramics – the Song dynasty – which particularly appealed to him and from the mid-1990s he focussed his collecting on works from that period. In this he was embracing a tradition amongst Japanese collectors, who have admired fine Chinese ceramics from the Song and Yuan dynasties since the time they were made, when members of the Japanese elite eagerly anticipated the arrival at Kamakura of boats with the latest cargo of karamono (Tang [Chinese] things). The current catalogue, which contains items for the first of three sales from the Linyushanren Collection, encompasses an interesting range of exceptional ceramics, from the monochrome wares of kilns such as the Ding kilns of Hebei province and the Longquan kilns of Zhejiang province, to stonewares from various kilns in the Cizhou group decorated in a variety of the different techniques for which these kilns were famous. Only three of the latter techniques will be highlighted in this essay, although others can be seen on additional items from the Linyushanren Collection. Among the Cizhou wares included in the current sale is a vase which stands on a tall spreading foot and has a trumpet mouth (Lot 2834). The overlapping petal band just above the foot and the peony scroll which encircles the body of this vase are executed in one of the most challenging techniques employed at the Cizhou kilns – double-slip sgraffiato. The technique required a white slip to be applied to the surface of the vase, which was dried and then covered with a black or dark brown slip. When this second slip dried the details and outlines of the design were cut through the black slip, and the black slip in the area forming the background to the design was cut away, leaving the white slip. The vase was then covered with a thin, clear glaze and fired. The effect achieved was that of a bold black design against a white ground, but the challenge of cutting the black slip away without removing the white slip beneath required exceptional skill.Bold designs in black slip over a white slip can also be seen on another Cizhou vessel in the current sale – a deep bowl standing on a small, high foot (Lot 2833). In this case the black slip design has been painted onto the white slip surface using a brush, without the need for incising or cutting. The design on this bowl is composed of four leafy sprays painted in a fluent, calligraphic, style. This more fluent style was only possible because the design was applied with a brush and not using the sgraffiato technique. Painting in thick slip onto another unfired slip would, nevertheless, have required considerable expertise. A third Cizhou decorative technique seen on an item in the current sale appears on the small polychrome dish (Lot 2832). Perhaps the most innovative decorative technique seen on Cizhou wares was overglaze enamelling, which seems to have been adopted in the late 12th/early 13th century. On current evidence, this may be an instance of a decorative technique appearing first on a popular ware, and then being transferred to porcelains made at the imperial kilns in the Yuan dynasty. On Cizhou wares a pale slip was applied to the clay body and a colourless transparent glaze was applied over the top. The piece was then fired to stoneware temperature. After the piece was cooled, lead-fluxed overglaze enamels were applied to the surface of the fired glaze and the vessel was fired a second time at a lower temperature. The most popular overglaze colours in the Cizhou palette were green and red, but yellow was also used. The current dish is decorated with a design of fish amongst aquatic plants – which may have been a reference to philosophical Daoism, particularly in the Zhuangzi, attributed to Zhuangzi, or ‘Master Zhuang’ (369-286 BC), who, after Laozi, was one of the earliest philosophers of what has become known as Daojia, or the School of the Way. Among other things, Zhuangzi consistently uses fish to exemplify creatures who achieve happiness through being in tune with their environment. As part of a much more complex discussion in chapter 17 (Qiu shui), Zhuangzi, who is crossing a bridge over the Hao river with Huizi, notes: ‘See how the small fish are darting about [in the water]. That is the happiness of fish. ’Significantly there are several paintings dated to the late Song and early Yuan dynasties, which are entitled The Pleasure of Fish (or the Happiness of Fish), which is a direct reference to this quotation. One such hand-scroll, dated to the 12th century and attributed to Lui Cai, is in the St. Louis Art Museum.While the majority of Cizhou wares were made at kilns in the north of China, another early kiln complex known for its varied and innovative decorative techniques was at Jizhou in Jiangxi province, in the south. The Jizhou dark glazes contain about 5.5% iron oxide, but also contain about 1% of manganese oxide, and this mixture gives a brownish-black with a softer, more matt surface compared to the glossy surface of the other Song dynasty black wares. The Linyushanren Collection includes Jizhou vessels decorated in several different techniques, but only two will be highlighted in this brief introduction. One of the most striking and popular interior decorations on Jizhou tea bowls was created using a natural leaf, which was laid on top of the wet dark glaze before the bowl was fired. During the oxidizing firing the leaf itself burnt away but some of the minerals in the leaves acted as fluxes, thinning the glaze where it is in contact with the leaf, while the phosphorous oxides in the leaf lightened the glaze. The result is a pale, but perfect ‘shadow’ of the leaf. Most of the leaves used on Jizhou tea bowls, including the example in the current sale (Lot 2818), are from the pipal tree (ficus religiosa), which is sacred to the Hindu, Jain and Buddhist religions. The Buddha is believed to have become enlightened while sitting under a pipal tree. Tea bowls decorated in this way were therefore especially prized by Buddhist adherents. A further interesting technique used at the Jizhou kilns was to paint pale designs on top of the unfired dark glaze. This can be seen on a rare meiping vase in the current sale (Lot 2825). When the piece was fired, and the glaze flowed slightly, the designs were rendered in softer focus, and the patterns, which were often akin to those seen on carved tixi lacquers of the period, provided a pleasing richness of surface decoration. Vessels for tea became increasingly important during the Song dynasty as tea drinking grew in popularity among the elite and even at court.2 The Song Empeor Huizong himself wrote a twelve chapter treatise on tea Daguan Cha Lun (Discourses on tea in the Daguan era [AD 1107-1110]). Black tea bowls became especially desirable as contests for making tea also became popular. Cai Xiang (AD 1012-67) in his Cha Lu (Records of Tea), noted that: ‘The white froth stands out best in a black tea bowl. Tea bowls made in Jian’an [in Fujian] were glazed black and with streaks resembling hare’s fur. Their body is slightly thicker than normal, and retains the heat for a long time. Hence they are the most suitable.’ Emperor Huizong also noted that black tea bowls from Fujian kept his tea longer. Among the most famous of the Song dynasty black-glazed tea bowls are those from the Jian kilns of Fujian, mentioned by Cai Xiang in the quotation above. The Linyushanren Collection contains a number of fine Jian ware bowls. The body of Jian wares had a high iron content, and the glaze was also overloaded with iron - about 6%, while the maximum that a lime-based glaze can dissolve is around 5.5% - and the excess precipitated out. Many Jian wares had liquid-liquid phase separated glazes and the formation of little glass droplets in the glaze during phase-separation helped to carry the excess iron to the surface. At the early stage of this process the droplets appeared as tiny specks producing the flecked appearance of the ‘tea dust’ glaze. As the droplets moved to the surface and burst they produced an ‘oil-spot’ effect, and then when the glaze ran down the sides of the bowls, it carried the burst droplets with it creating the effect of streaking that is known as ‘hare’s fur’ (Lot 2820). The streaking was enhanced by the growth of micro-crystals in the excess iron oxide during cooling and the different colours of the three main states of iron oxide - ferric oxide (yellowish-brown), ferrous oxide (black) and magnetic iron oxide (silvery) – gave a range of colorations.In contrast to the Cizhou and Jizhou wares with their exuberant designs, and the rich, dark glazes of Jian wares, the Linyushanren Collection also includes fine, pale ivorytoned Ding wares with decoration of great subtlety. The Ding kiln area in Quyangxian benefited from geology which included a seam containing fireclay and secondary kaolin which was high in alumina and remarkably low in both iron and titanium, accounting for the whiteness of the ceramics made from it. The glaze of classic Ding pieces, such as those in the Linyushanren Collection, also benefited from being of magnesia-lime type; lime fluxed, high in magnesia and low in calcia. The inclusion of high proportions of oxides such as magnesia, alumina and silica, which contract relatively little, resulted in a glaze that was usually fairly free from crazing. An oxidizing atmosphere in the Ding kilns during firing resulted in a pale ivory-coloured glaze.The Linyushanren Collection contains extremely fine examples of Ding wares both with carved and incised decoration, and with moulded decoration. One of the former is the impressive basin decorated with a fluently carved lotus scrolls (Lot 2815) in the current sale. As the Ding glaze is transparent and almost colourless, while the body material is white, the carved decoration appears very delicate, and the decorator has added definition to the design by highlighting certain areas using an outline of double parallel lines. Despite its size and shape the basin was fired upside-down using the fushao method. Since this method necessitated an unglazed mouth rim, the vessel had a copper-alloy band applied around its mouth-rim – providing a pleasing contrast with the ivory-toned glaze. A similar alloy band can be seen around the mouth rim of an exquisite dish with moulded decoration, also in the current sale (Lot 2813). With the introduction of moulded decoration at the Ding kilns, the decorative style changed - becoming much denser, more formal, and more complex. The design of a peacock in flight amongst blossoming peonies is beautifully conceived, while the low relief of the moulding is exceptionally crisp and finely detailed. As early as the Han dynasty peacocks are found in Chinese literature, such as the well-known yuefu entitled ‘A Pair of Peacocks Fly Southeast’, which tells of the unwavering devotion between a couple torn apart by their families. By the Tang dynasty peacocks were well known in China, and indeed some districts paid tribute in peacocks, their feathers being used both for imperial decoration, and for the designation of official rank. In the Tang dynasty, peacock feathers were apparently bestowed on both civil and military officials as marks of imperial favour, rewarding faithful service. Peacock feathers are also associated with a number of Buddhist deities, but peacocks are particularly associated with the Bodhisattva Avolokiteśvara (Guanyin). One of the stories relating to the Chinese Guanyin in female form tells of her summoning a large bird with dull plumage, sweeping her hands across her own face and then over the feathers of the bird. The bird was suffused with brilliant lights and colours, to the extent that other creatures had to look away. When they looked back they saw that each of the bird’s 100 tail feathers contained an eye. Guanyin explained this by saying that, as she was unable to be omnipresent in watching over them, the eyes in the peacock’s tail would keep watch for her and remind them of her constant care.Song dynasty high-fired white wares made at southern Chinese kilns are also wellrepresented in the Linyushanren Collection. The finest of these were the qingbai porcelains with fine white translucent body and blue-tinged transparent glaze from the kilns at Jingdezhen. These had a pure white, high silica, body covered with the transparent, icy blue-tinged glaze from which qingbai takes its name. Qingbai means ‘blue white’, while the other name by which these porcelains are commonly known, yingqing, means ‘shadow blue’. The colour relied on the reduction of a very small percentage of iron in the glaze, combined with minimum impurities in body and glaze material, and careful control of the firing conditions. In his treatise Tao ji (Ceramic Records), the distinguished Southern Song (AD 1127-1279) ceramic historian Jiang Qi described this pure white porcelain and noted that it was popular over a wide area, and that, even outside the kiln area, it was known as Raoyu ‘jade of Rao’ - Raozhou being the name of the region in which the Jingdezhen kilns were located. Recent archaeological and textual research carried out by Chinese scholars strongly suggests that Jingdezhen qingbai porcelains may have been used by both the Northern and the Southern Song courts, although the kilns themselves were not, at that time, controlled by the court.3Amongst the fine qingbai-glazed porcelains from the Linyushanren Collection in the current sale is a lobed ewer (Lot 2829), which has a slender, out-turned, spout with horizontally-cut tip that would have allowed precise control of the flow of whichever liquid it was intended to hold. The admiration for ewers of this type can be seen in the case of a similar ewer, also in the Linyushanren Collection, which was registered in Japan as an Important Cultural Object in June 1971, has been included in numerous exhibitions, and has been the subject of academic literature since at least 1943.4 This latter ewer has finely incised decoration on the upper half of its lobed body. Like the earlier Ding ware decoration, this is very subtle. An elegant qingbai-glazed meiping vase in the current sale (Lot 2830) has somewhat more distinct decoration which has been rather more deeply carved into the body of the vessel and the blue-tinged glaze has flowed into the recessed lines. The decoration is composed of repeated scrolls, which provide a rich texture to the surface of the vase.The Linyushanren Collection also contains a number of fine Jun wares – thosewith plain blue glazes and those embellished with copper oxide to create areas of purple. Like Ding wares, Jun wares have also been classed by connoisseurs as one of the ‘Five Famous Wares of the Song Dynasty’, along with Ru wares, Guan wares, and Ge wares. The two main centres for the production of Jun wares in the Song and Jin period were at Linru, on the Ru River near Luoyang, and at Shenhou, Yuxian, in Henan province. Jun wares are prized for their remarkable glaze which is thick, opalescent and appears in various tones of blue. The glaze is of lime-alkali type, but it has particular qualities which have been the subject of much research. Like all celadons, the Jun glaze owes some of its blue coloration to the reduction of small quantities of iron oxide in the glaze during reduction firing. However, the opalescence and much of the blue appearance of the glaze are caused by several in-glaze phenomena, the most important of which is liquid-liquid phase separation - the formation of tiny globules of lime-rich glass within the silica-rich glaze matrix. To produce this emulsion, the Jun glaze had to be kept at a high temperature for a specific period and had to be cooled very slowly. If, however, the glaze was cooled for too long a period, it became almost opaque due to the growth of wollastonite crystals. Some of these rounded white crystals, which grew in the calcium-rich areas of the glaze, were desirable since the pale clouds that they formed added to the interesting texture of the glaze, as did the gas bubbles resulting from incompletely burned lime and phosphates. All these elements affected the passage of light through the glaze and contribute to its colour and texture. Their effect was enhanced by the growth of a white layer of needle-like anorthite crystals at the interface between body and glaze, which scattered and reflected back the light.Although the earliest Jun wares had plain blue glazes, from the end of the 11th century many pieces were decorated with red and purple areas produced by applying copper oxide to the surface of the unfired glaze. Such purple areas can be seen on a particularly beautiful ‘bubble’ bowl in the current sale (Lot 2808). ‘Bubble’ bowls, which have rounded sides and a slightly inverted rims are the most characteristic of all Jun shapes.The forms of Jun wares were generally thrown on the wheel, or slab-made in the case of pillows. There is, however, a significant group of pieces, comprising bulb bowls, flower pots and stands, where the vessel has been moulded using a double mould. A number of these vessels bear Chinese numerals stamped or incised into their bases under the glaze. The numbers range from one to ten, and judging from the examples in international museums and those examined from the excavations at Juntai, Yuxian, the numbers relate to the size of the vessels - ten representing the smallest size and one the largest. Recent research by Chinese scholars has tended to support the idea that the vessels made using double moulds should be dated to the Jin-Yuan period, and that the numbered vessels should date to the Yuan or early Ming dynasty.6 A significant number of these numbered vessels have survived in palace collections and Jun ware bulb bowls, plant pots and plant pot stands can be seen in court paintings dating to the Qing dynasty, when they were still being used by the Imperial family. Among the numbered Jun wares in the Linyushanren Collection is a narcissus bowl or plant pot stand with six petal lobes and a beautiful lavender blue glaze on the interior and exterior (Lot 2812). This vessel has the numeral si (four) on its base.Amongst the most popular Chinese ceramics imported into Japan in the Song and Yuan dynasties were Longquan celadons with their soft, translucent, bluish-green glazes. These Longquan wares are well-represented in the Linyushanren Collection. Longquan celadons are not named after a specific kiln site, but after the market town in southern Zhejiang province to which the ceramics were brought for sale and distribution. Essentially Longquan celadons inherited the legacy of the stonewares produced at the Yue kilns, and in the Northern Song period the Longquan kilns produced wares very similar to Yue. The Linyushanren Collection includes a Northern Song Longquan lidded vase (Lot 2804), which clearly demonstrates the links with Yue wares and also suggests the influence of the popular Yaozhou celadons from north China, like the petal-rimmed jar in the current sale (Lot 2803). However, in the Southern Song period, no doubt influenced by the refined tastes of members of the elite, who accompanied the new Southern Song court when it settled at Hangzhou, the Longquan kilns began to develop a high-quality soft green celadon glaze, that was to prove hugely popular both in China and overseas.The classic Longquan ware is a lime-alkaline glaze – in contrast to the Yue and Yaozhou glazes which were lime glazes - is more viscous than the Yue glaze, and is usually thicker. Some of the components in the Longquan glaze are less soluble than those in the Yue glaze, and remain intact after firing and, together with gas bubbles, cause the translucence typical of the Longquan glaze. The colour and texture of this glaze can be fully appreciated on an elegant long-necked vase in the Linyushanren Collection (Lot 2807). The translucency of the glaze did not encourage the use of incising and carving to the same extent as on ceramics with transparent glazes. In the Southern Song period the two most popular forms of decoration were the carving of overlapping petals around the exterior of bowls and dishes, and the application of sprig-moulded elements under the glaze on the interior of open wares. Both of these decorative features can be seen on a dish in the current sale (Lot 2806). On the exterior are overlapping petals, while on the interior of the dish is one of the most popular sprig-moulded designs – paired fish. The fish are confronted, nose to tail, and appear to swim in a circle. The translucent glaze softens the features of the fish, while also providing a suggestion that they are in water.Two of the most prized wares of the Southern Song, which were also included among the ‘Five Famous Wares of the Song Dynasty’, are Guan ware and Ge ware. These two wares have been the subjects of intense research both within China and elsewhere in recent years. Both Guan ware and Ge ware are characterized by glazes which were deliberately crackled to achieve a fine network of lines over the surface of the vessel. It is likely that one of the reasons that these crackle lines were admired was that they were reminiscent of the fissures in jade, the natural material most prized by Chinese connoisseurs. Ge and Guan wares were not only appreciated in their own era, but have been treasured by collectors to the present day.The high regard in which such pieces were held by the great Qing dynasty imperial collector, the Qianlong Emperor (1736-95), for example, is demonstrated by the fact that Ge ware dishes appear in several informal portraits of the emperor, while he ordered a number of Ge and Guan vessels in the imperial collection to be inscribed with laudatory poems. There has been much discussion regarding the distinction between Guan ware and Ge ware, but the most widely recognized distinguishing features of Ge ware is that its softly opaque glaze has the so-called jinsi tiexian ‘golden thread and iron wire’ crackle. This can be seen at its best on the exceptional dish in the current sale (Lot 2817). Further discussion of this dish can be found in the essay which forms part of the catalogue entry for the dish in the current volume.The Linyushanren Collection offers scholars and collectors a unique opportunity to appreciate a wide range of exceptional Song ceramics, only a few of which have been highlighted in this brief introduction.

A PAIR OF CARVED YAOZHOU BOWLS

NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 11TH-12TH CENTURY

Details

A PAIR OF CARVED YAOZHOU BOWLS
NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 11TH-12TH CENTURY
Each bowl is formed with rounded sides rising from a shallow ring foot to a grooved mouth. The interiors are carved in the centre with a leafy stem bearing a single six-petalled blossom surrounded by combed waves. Both bowls are covered in an olive-green glaze with the exception of the foot ring.
5 3/8 in. ( 13.6 cm.) diam., Japanese wood box

Provenance

Kochukyo, Tokyo

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Ruben Lien

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Lot Essay

A Yaozhou bowl with this well-known design in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 32 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 120, no. 106. Other Yaozhou bowls carved with this design are in The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, illustrated in The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Osaka, 1997, p. 53, no. 67, and in the Percival David Foundation, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 7, Tokyo, 1976, col. pl. 18.

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