Cizhou ware bottle with carved-slip (sgraffito) decoration

Vase with swelling shoulder, tall thin neck and widely flaring lip with flanged edge. Cizhou ware – sgraffito type.
Clay: hard, buff stoneware covered with thick cream slip.
Glaze: thin, transparent, with fine crackle; decomposed in spots.
Decoration: both incised in slip and deeply cut through exposing contrasting body color.

Historical period(s)
Northern Song dynasty, mid 10th-11th century
Medium
Stoneware with white slip under transparent colorless glaze
Style
Cizhou ware
Dimensions
H x W: 39.7 x 20.6 cm (15 5/8 x 8 1/8 in)
Geography
China, Henan province, Dengfengxian
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1931.18
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bottle

Keywords
China, Cizhou ware, Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127), stoneware, white slip
Provenance

Robert W. deForest [1]

1931
Yamanaka and Company, New York 1931 [2]

From 1931
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Yamanaka and Company, New York in 1931 [3]

Notes:

[1] Object file.

[2] Object file. Also see Freer Gallery of Art Purchase List file, Collections Management Office.

[3] See note 2.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Robert W. deForest 1848-1931
Yamanaka and Co. 1917-1965

Description

Vase with swelling shoulder, tall thin neck and widely flaring lip with flanged edge. Cizhou ware - sgraffito type.
Clay: hard, buff stoneware covered with thick cream slip.
Glaze: thin, transparent, with fine crackle; decomposed in spots.
Decoration: both incised in slip and deeply cut through exposing contrasting body color.

Published References
  • William Watson. The Art of Dynastic China. New York, 1981. ill. 648.
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 65.
  • Sekai toji zenshu [Catalogue of the World's Ceramics]. 16 vols, Tokyo, 1955-1958. vol. 16: p. 163, fig. 1.
  • Yutaka Mino, Katherine R. Tsiang. Freedom of Clay and Brush Through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-Chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D. Exh. cat. Bloomington, November 17, 1980 - September 6, 1981. fig. 14.
  • Margaret Medley. The Chinese Potter: A Practical History of Chinese Ceramics. Oxford. pl. 89.
  • Mayuyama Junkichi. Obei shuzo chugoku toji zuroku [Chinese Ceramics in the West]. Tokyo. pl. 37.
  • Hasebe Gakuji. So no jishu-yo [Tz'u chou Ware of Sung]. Toki zenshu, 13 Tokyo. .
  • Hasebe Gakuji. Jisshuyo [Cizhou Ware]. Chugoku no toji, 7 Tokyo. pl. 2.
  • Grace Dunham Guest. Chinese Porcelain at the Freer Gallery of Art. vol. 20, no. 1 Columbus, Ohio, January 1941. fig. 2.
  • Else S. Duncan. The Collector's First Handbook on Antique Chinese Ceramics. Chevy Chase. pl. 1.
  • Warren E. Cox. The Book of Pottery and Porcelain. 2 vols., New York. vol. 1: p. 437, fig. 645.
  • Masterpieces of Chinese and Japanese Art: Freer Gallery of Art handbook. Washington, 1976. .
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 96, vol. 1: p. 175.
  • Jan Wirgin. Sung Ceramic Designs. no. 42, Stockholm. pp. 1-272.
  • Grace Dunham Guest, Archibald Gibson Wenley. Annotated Outlines of the History of Chinese Arts. Washington, 1949. p. 9.
  • Mayuyama Junkichi, H. Igaki. Chinese Ceramics in the Freer Gallery of Art. no. 43, October 1956. cat. 43, pp. 31-36, pl. 2.
  • W. Aubrey Cartwright. Guide to Art Museums in the United States: East Coast, Washington to Miami., 1st ed. New York. p. 32, i.
  • Christie's (New York). Christie's (New York) Auction Catalogue, March 18-19, 2009. New York, 2009. p. 54.
  • Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Including Jades from the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Christie's (New York) March 18-19, 2009. New York, March 18-19, 2009. p. 54, fig. 1.
  • Hasebe Gakuji. So [Song]. Sekai toji zenshu, 12 Tokyo. pp. 110-111, no. 109.
  • Judith Burling, Arthur H. Burling. Chinese Art. New York. p. 185.
  • The Horizon Book of the Arts of China. New York. p. 241.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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