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

The use of paper cutouts to decorate ceramics was a Song dynasty innovation. These wares were produced exclusively at the Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi province. Teabowls with variegated ‘tortoise-shell’ glazes and various different cutout designs were the most popular of all Jizhou ceramics. The decorative motifs most commonly seen are birds and flowers. The deer motif is very rare.

Although there is general agreement that cut paper stencils were used to produce the decoration on Song Jizhou ceramics, the exact technique remains a mystery. Various theories have been proposed. It has been suggested that the paper cutouts were simply left on top of the glaze and allowed to burn up in the firing. Another theory is that the bowls were glazed twice, first with a dark brown color and a second time with a paste of wood-ash and slip, with the stencils laid in place over the semi-dry first glaze before the second glaze was applied. After the second layer of glaze was dry the paper stencils could be removed, revealing the motif in the darker primary glaze.

A complete explication of current theories of the techniques used for decorating Song Jizhou wares is provided by Mowry in Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown-and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400–1400, Cambridge, 1996, pp. 240–242, where the author illustrates two teabowls similar to the present example in form but decorated with different motifs, no. 96 and no. 100.