A MAGNIFICENT AND EXTREMELY RARE 'NOGIME TEMMOKU' TEA BOWL SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 12TH CENTURY

of 'Jianyao' manufacture and 'silver hare's fur' type, solidly potted, of tall conical form, with a groove below the lip and an evenly shaped, shallow foot, and covered with a thick, highly glossy black glaze with overall radiating iridescent silvery-blue striations, draining from the rim and stopping well above the foot in a glossy black bulge, revealing the dark brown body beneath, the rim later bound in gold; accompanied by a 16th-century Ryukyu laque burgauté stand of dark brown lacquer with cinnabar-red interior, the ring-shaped support and wide rim inlaid in mother-of-pearl with chrysanthemum scrolls, the flared foot and edges with key-fret and other formal borders, the foot marked on the inside with a tian ('heaven') character and a leaf fan, both incised and gilt



the bowl in a Japanese cream silk pouch (shifuku) with matching silk cushion and four corner posts, in a ribbon-tied paulownia-wood box and cover, ribbon-tied black lacquer outer box and cover, and patterned, lined cotton furoshiki; the stand in cream silk shifuku on purple silk cushion, in Edo period ribbon-tied cylindrical black lacquer box and cover with inscribed wooden tag, and patterned furoshiki; both in a joint ribbon-tied paulownia-wood box and cover, and silk-lined, patterned cotton furoshiki with inscribed wooden tag



 

Mayuyama & Co. Ltd, Tokyo.

The bowl:

Chūgoku Sō Gen bijutsu ten/Chinese Arts of the Sung and Yuan Periods, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1961, cat. no. 270.

Chūgoku meiji ten/Chinese Ceramics. A Loan Exhibition of Selected Masterpieces, Fukuya, Hiroshima, 1961, cat. no. 46.

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. 69.

Sō Gen no bijutsu [The art of Song and Yuan], Osaka Municipal Art Museum, Osaka, 1978, cat. no. 1-215.

Temmoku, Tokugawa Art Museum and Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo, 1979, cat. no. 15.

Inki [Drinking vessels], Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Izumi, 1989, cat. no. 206.

Chūgoku no tōji/Special Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, cat. no. 199.

Chūgoku tōji meihō Ten Series [Important treasures of Chinese ceramics series], Gotoh Art Museum, Tokyo, 1966.

The bowl was included in at least one other unidentified exhibition in Japan, as no. 131 (exhibition label preserved).

The stand:

Temmoku, Tokugawa Art Museum and Nezu Art Museum, Tokyo, 1979, cat. no. 15.

Raden/East Asian Urushi Lacquer Work with Mother-of-Pearl Inlay, Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, 1999, cat. no. 68.

Shō ōke to Ryūkyū no bi ten [Exhibition of Ryukyu art from the Shō Royal Family], MOA Art Museum, Atami, 2001, cat. no. 81.

Kōyama Fujiō, Tōki zenshū [Complete series on ceramics], vol. 26: Temmoku, Tokyo, 1965, pl. 32.

Ryūsen Shūhō/Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, pl. 675.

Hasebe Gakuji, Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12: Sō/Sung Dynasty, Tokyo, 1977, pls 96-8.

Chūgoku tōji shi [History of Chinese ceramics], Tokyo, 1978, pl. 190.

Kōyama Fujiō, Tōji taikei [Outlines of ceramics], vol. 38: Temmoku, Tokyo, 1974, pls 93 and 94.

Sō Gen no bijutsu [The art of the Song and Yuan], Tokyo, 1980, pl. 34.

Sekai bijutsu daizenshū/New History of World Art: Tōyō hen [Oriental section], vol. 6: Nan Sō, Kin [Southern Song, Jin ], Tokyo, 2000, pls 146-7.

Kōyama Fujiō, Chawan [Tea bowls], vol. 1: Chūgoku, Annan [China, Vietnam], Tokyo, 1972, pl. 17.

 

This rare teabowl is in excellent condition with the exception of some minor glaze firing imprefections including bust glaze bubbles, glaze crazing and small glaze scartches. The rim has been later bound in yellow metal. The cup stand is in good condition with the exception of a repair to a 3cm., wide crescent-shaped break ta the rim, with associated small loss to the mother-of-pearl inlay.
"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."

'Silver hare's fur' glazes of this radiant type, which are related in colouration to the famous 'oil spot' glazes, but differ in the form of their iridescent markings, are exceedingly rare. A similar bowl, also with gold rim, was included in the exhibition Karamono temmoku [Chinese temmoku], MOA Art Museum, Atami, 1994, cat. no. 6. This exhibition catalogue, where a few important heirloom temmoku tea bowls preserved in Japan were juxtaposed with a large sample of excavated specimens from the kiln site, impressively documents the wide range of qualities and the excellence of the examples collected in Japan. Another bowl with a similar glaze appearance in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was included in the exhibition Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., 1996, cat. no. 83. Only one sherd with a similar glaze effect is illustrated in J.M. Plumer, Temmoku. A Study of the Ware of Chien, Tokyo, 1972, p. 59, pl. 8.

A similar mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquer stand for a temmoku tea bowl was included in the exhibition Karamono. Chūgoku, Chōsen, Ryūkyū/ Imported Lacquerwork – Chinese, Korean and Ryukyuan (Okinawa), The Tokugawa Art Museum, Nagoya, 1997, pl. 189. Another similar laque burgauté stand is preserved together with a northern 'oil spot' tea bowl copying southern 'Jian' ware in the Ryōkōin, a temple in Kyoto, see Kōyama Fujiō (ed.), Sekai tōji zenshū [Ceramic art of the world], volume 10, Tokyo, 1955, pl. 60.