J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York

A very similar carved Yaozhou bowl in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Gugong Bowuyuan Cang Wenwu Zhenpin Quanji, Liang Song Ciqi, I (The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty, I),Vol. 32, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 133, p. 147; and the same bowl is illustrated in the catalogue of the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition entitled Kiln Sites of Ancient China, London, 1980, no. 446, p. 103, identified as a product of the Huangpu town Yaozhou kilns at Tongchuan, Shaanxi province.

The design of a xiniu gazing at the moon appears for the first time as a decorative motif in the Song dynasty and remains popular through the 13th and 14th centuries on Dingyao and Yaozhou bowls and dishes as well as textiles and elsewhere in the Chinese decorative arts. The theme is discussed at length by Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, B.M.F.E.A., No. 42, Stockholm, 1970, pp. 196-198. According to Wirgin the term hsi-niu meant rhinoceros in ancient Chinese texts, but the rhinoceros became extinct in the post-archaic period, and by the Song dynasty the xiniu had become a beast of legend, known only through literary references. The design of a xiniu gazing at a crescent moon in Song and Yuan ceramics illustrated the popular myth that the unique crescent-shaped horn of the rhinoceros shows the beast magically “communicating with the sky” through its horn. The magical powers attributed to the horn of the rhinoceros in the Song dynasty continued to gain in complexity and popularity in later periods. Supernatural, medicinal and other valuable properties were attributed to the rhinoceros horn by Daoist adepts and medicine men, including the reputation for powerful effects as an aphrodisiac. This led to the production of rhinoceros horn bowls and cups, a category of decorative art unique to China, which flourished in the late Ming and throughout the Qing dynasty.