Small Ovoid Jar with Partridge-Feather Mottles
12th century
Description
This ovoid jar sports a lustrous black glaze enlivened with russet splashes. Of thinly potted form, the jar is surmounted by a short, upright neck with an unglazed rim around the wide mouth. (The unglazed lip indicates that the jar originally had a cover, now lost, which would have been fired in place.) The jar is covered inside and out with a lustrous, dark brown glaze that appears black in reflected light. Randomly applied splashes of matte russet-brown slip enliven the dark glaze, the splashes running downward and shading to iridescent green tones at the margins; since Song times, Chinese connoisseurs have termed the type of mottles that embellish this piece "partridge feather decoration." The well-controlled glaze ends in an even line well short of the high, lightly splayed foot, exposing the light gray stoneware body on the lower portion of the piece; the exposed body clay assumed a pale buff skin in firing.
Dimensions
H. 12.7 x Diam. 13.4 cm (5 x 5 1/4 in.)
Provenance
J.J. Lally & Co., New York (March-April 2009) Dr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon Collection, San Francisco (1985-2009) Sotheby's, London, 10 December 1985, lot 149 (1985) Frederick Knight, London (1972-1985) Bluett & Sons, London (1972) Professor Postan and Lady Cynthia Postan, London (1940s-1972)
Related Artworks
View MoreJian ware: dark gray stoneware with dark brown glaze, the markings in iron oxide; the rim banded with metal. From the kilns at Shuiji, Jianyang county, Fujian province.
12th-13th centuryChineseNorthern black ware of Cizhou type: light gray stoneware with dark brown glaze, the russet markings in overglaze iron oxide
12th centuryChineseYaozhou ware: molded light gray stoneware with celadon glaze. From the Yaozhou kilns at Tongchuan, Shaanxi province.
12th-13th centuryChineseNanfeng ware: light gray stoneware with decoration reserved against the medium brown glaze, the rim and reserved designs with clear glaze over white slip. From the Baishe kilns in Nanfeng county, Jiangxi province
12th-13th centuryChineseDing ware: porcelaneous white stoneware with ivory-hued glaze over incised and carved decoration, the rim repaired with gold lacquer. From the Ding kilns at Quyang, Hebei province.
11th-12th centuryChineseQingbai ware: porcelain with pale sky-blue glaze over carved and incised decoration
12th centuryChineseUnderfired Black Ding ware: porcelaneous white stoneware with brownish green, tea-dust-like glaze. Probably from the kilns at Jianci village, possibly from those at East or West Yanchuan village, Quyang county, Hebei province.
11th-12th centuryChineseGreen Jun ware: light gray stoneware with celadon glaze
12th-13th centuryChineseEarthenware with green lead glaze
11th-12th centuryChineseCizhou ware: light gray stoneware with clear glaze over decoration painted in iron-brown slip on a white slip ground. Probably from the Guantai kilns, near Handan, Hebei province.
12th centuryChineseCizhou-type cut-glaze ware: light gray stoneware with dark brown glaze, the decoration cut into the glaze before firing. From the Ciyaobao kilns, Lingwu county, Ningxia Huizu Autonomous Region.
12th-13th centuryChineseQingbai ware: porcelain with pale sky-blue glaze over incised and carved
12th centuryChinese