J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York
MenuPast Exhibition
The Gordon Collection:
Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
March 12 - April 4, 2009
5.
A CARVED YAOZHOU CELADON CONICAL BOWL
Northern Song Dynasty (A.D. 960-1127)
decorated on the interior of the flat flaring sides with a full-blown peony flower on a curling stem sprouting five spiky trefoil leaves, all freely carved and with combed details in a stylized arrangement filling a circular panel framed by a wide plain border around the rim, the decoration interrupted by a recessed medallion in the center corresponding to the ring foot on the base, the exterior with incised radiating lines rising from a double-line border above the foot to a wide plain band around the rim, all under a translucent glaze of light olive-green tone with finely crackled surface, the glaze pooling in the carved recesses to highlight the design.
Diameter 8 1⁄2 inches (21.5 cm)
From the Collection of Rudolph Schaeffer (1886-1988), California
No other Yaozhou bowl of this specific form and design appears to have been previously published, but the tree peony, known in Chinese tradition as the flower of wealth and honor, was a popular decorative motif at the Yaozhou kilns. Compare the Yaozhou celadon bowl with gently rounded flaring sides carved in a very similar style with a closely related design of peony flowers on a leafy stalk, from the collection of the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, illustrated in the catalogue of the exhibition entitled The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Osaka, 1997, no. 66, p. 52, attributed to the 11th century.
北宋 耀州青磁刻花牡丹紋碗 徑 21.5 厘米
