Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279)
of thinly potted hemispherical form with a short cylindrical spout at the base, decorated with multiple concentric rings incised on the exterior of the bowl and the sides of the spout, covered with a glossy translucent glaze of light bluish tint, gathering in a wide band of darker aquamarine tone low on the exterior and pooling to a deeper tone in the incised lines, the upturned lip unglazed showing the fine white porcelain, with fragments of the original gold mount remaining around the rim.
Diameter 4 1⁄2 inches (11.4 cm)
No other example of this form in Qingbai porcelain appears to have been previously recorded.
The use of silver or tinned mounts on the unglazed rims of Qingbai porcelains is well known, but it is extremely rare to see an original gold mount surviving from the Song dynasty.
A Qingbai porcelain cupstand with gold mount fitted on its hemispherical bowl, unearthed in 1974 at Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province from the tomb of Zhang Min, dated by epitaph to the fourth year of Xi’ning (A.D. 1071), is illustrated in Wenwu, 1977, No. 3, pl. 4, no. 1; and is published again by Liu in Dated Ceramics of the Song, Liao, and Jin Periods, Beijing, 2004, p. 102, no. 7-28.
Compare also the thinly potted Qingbai porcelain bowl of hemispherical form with silver mount illustrated by Zhao (ed.) in Chai yao yu Hutian yao (Chai Kiln and Hutian Kiln), Nanning, 2004, p. 110.
宋 青白鑲金口漏斗 徑 11.4 厘米
Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1279)
Diameter 4 1⁄2 inches (11.4 cm)