A RARE CARVED 'YAOZHOU' CELADON DISH NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 11TH/ 12TH CENTURY

the slightly concave inside, with a prominent rolled rim that provides a groove underneath for safe handling, the outside angled and tapering to a short narrow foot, carved with a fanciful flower spray with a large trefoil bloom and curling fronds of leaves, all with combed detail, asymmetrically arranged and evenly spaced to fill the centre, while the rim and outside are left plain, the olive-green glaze leaving only the footring and a patch on the base free where the body has fired a yellowish brown



in Japanese ribbon-tied paulownia-wood box and cover, lined and fitted with purple silk and covered with a matching silk cushion, ribbon-tied paulownia-wood outer box and cover, and brown cotton furoshiki with inscribed wooden tag

Mayuyama & Co. Ltd, Tokyo (before 1948).
Collection of Umezawa Hikotaro, Tokyo (1952).

Chinese Ceramics from Prehistoric Period through Ch'ien Lung, Los Angeles County Museum, Los Angeles, 1952, cat. no. 175 

Sō ji meihin ten/Exhibition of Sung Ceramics, The Japan Ceramic Society Tenth Anniversary Exhibition, Takashimaya Nihonbashi, Tokyo, 1955, cat. no. 16.

Chūgoku ko tōji. Tō Sō meiji ten [Ancient Chinese ceramics: Exhibition of important Tang and Song ceramics], Shirokiya Department Store, Nihonbashi, Tokyo, 1964, cat. no. 104.

Sō Gen no bijutsu [The art of Song and Yuan], Osaka Municipal Art Museum, Osaka, 1978, cat. no. 1-59.

Chūgoku no tōji/Special Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, cat. no. 146.

Yoshuyo/The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, cat. no. 42, with enlarged detail as chapter divider, p. 141.

Sō ji [Song ceramics], Tobu Museum of Art, Tokyo; The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka; Hagi Uragami Museum, Hagi; 1999, cat. no. 15.

The dish was included in at least three further unidentified exhibitions in Japan, respectively as no. 23, no. 67, and unnumbered (exhibition labels preserved).

Koyama Fujiō, Sō ji [Song ceramics], Tokyo, 1943, pl. 20.

Seiichi Muhaidojin Den, Rhusen Kaiko/ Reminiscences of Matsutaro Mayuyama, Tokyo, 1948, pl. 3.

Sherman E. Lee, 'Sung Ceramics in the Light of Recent Japanese Research', Artibus Asiae, XI, no. 3, 1948, fig. 5.

Kōyama Fujiō (ed.), Sekai tōji zenshū [Ceramic art of the world], vol. 10, Tokyo, 1955, pl. 26.

Tōyō bijutsu [Oriental art], vol. 4, Tokyo, 1967, pl. 18.

Kōyama Fujiō, Tōki Kōza [Lectures on ceramics], vol. 6: Chūgoku II. Sō [China II. Song], Tokyo, 1971, pl. 18.

Ryūsen Shūhō/Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, pl. 343.

Hasebe Gakuji, Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12: Sō/Sung Dynasty, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 197.

Chūgoku tōji shi [History of Chinese ceramics], Tokyo, 1978, pl. 12.

Kōyama Fujiō, Tōji taikei [Outlines of ceramics], vol. 36: Seiji [Celadon], Tokyo, 1978, pl. 59.

Sō Gen no bijutsu [The art of the Song and Yuan], Tokyo, 1980, pl. 97.

Satō Masahiko, Chinese Ceramics. A Short History, New York and Tokyo, 1981, pl. 8.

Yaozhou yao/Yaozhou Kiln, Xi'an, 1992, frontispiece and last (unnumbered) page.

This rare dish is in good condition with the exception of five hairline rim cracks and two 4cm., hairline glaze cracks running around the inside of the rim, minor glaze firing imperfections, glaze crazing and glaze scratches (predominatly to the underside). It should be noted that the glaze is of a slightly more olive tone than the catalogue illustration would suggest.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This concisely shaped and fluidly decorated dish so perfectly embodies the style and beauty of 'Yaozhou' ceramics that it has become an iconic piece of this type of Northern celadon ware. Since at least 1943 it has appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications, and featured prominently even in a monograph on 'Yaozhou' celadon published in mainland China in 1992, which contains largely material excavated from the kiln site. It has thus contributed to shaping our image of this type of northern stoneware, even though in Japan it had in the past often been classified as 'Ru' ware.

 

Both shape and design seem to be unique to the 'Yaozhou' manufactories, which is surprising given that the well-designed form is uniquely serviceable – its strongly curved rim providing a deep groove on the underside that enables a secure grip – and that the simple, quickly-sketched asymmetric flower design so perfectly fills the available space.

 

Dishes of this form with this distinctive convex rim are rare, and while other examples are known with the same pattern, this graphic design is on the present example executed with exceptional verve, revealing the hand of a master potter. Rejected versions of similar design have been excavated from the main 'Yaozhou' kilns at Huangpu near Tongchuan in Shaanxi province and are illustrated in Songdai Yaozhou yaozhi/The Yaozhou Kiln Site of the Song Period, Beijing, 1998, p. 210, fig. 109: 9; p.212, fig. 110: 1-3; col. pl. 5, fig. 2, and pl. 53, figs 1 and 2.

 

Completely preserved dishes of this design are in the Palace Museum, Beijing, published in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty, Beijing, 1996, vol. 1, pl. 127; in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, from the collection of Oscar Raphael, illustrated in Mary Tregear, Song Ceramics, London, 1982, pl. 135; in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, New York and San Francisco, 1980-82, vol. 11, no. 27; and in the Baur Collection, Geneva, published in John Ayers, Chinese Ceramics in the Baur Collection, Geneva, 1999, vol. 1, pl. 10. One from the Fuller collection, sold at Christie's London, 28 June 1965, lot 297, is now in the Asia Society Galleries, New York, illustrated in Denise Patry Leidy, Treasures of Asian Art: The Asia Society's Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3^rd Collection, New York, 1994, pl. 148; another in the Hetherington collection is illustrated in R.L. Hobson and A.L. Hetherington, The Art of the Chinese Potter, London, 1923, pl. 75, fig. 2.