A Jizhou 'leaf' bowl, Southern Song dynasty 南宋 吉州窰黑釉木葉盌

The Jizhou kilns at Yonghezhen, Ji'an county in Jiangxi province, a region formerly called Jizhou, were not blessed with the finest raw materials for making stonewares, but came up with the most original ideas for decorating. They were unique in exploiting the chemical composition of real tree leaves for making tea bowls with most naturalistic – because natural – silhouette leaf designs.

See a related bowl illustrated in Gugong Songci tulu. Longquan yao, Geyao ji qita ge yao/Illustrated Catalogue of Sung Dynasty Porcelain in the National Palace Museum. Lung-ch'üan Ware, Ko Ware and Other Wares, Taipei, 1974, pl. 72; and another bowl from the collection of Alfred Clark, included in Ryūsen Shūhō / Mayuyama, Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. I, pl. 677, and sold in our London rooms, 11th May 2011, lot 3.

本盌飾剪紙貼花木葉，輪廓尖突，脈絡細緻，與黑釉對比鮮明，乃江西吉州窰最受推崇出品之一。此紋飾製作方法，可參考Robert D. Mowry，展覽圖錄《Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers》，哈佛大學美術博物館，劍橋，1995年，頁260-262。作者論述，瓷匠或將樹葉貼於盌上，再浸以釉藥，窰燒時，樹葉所帶自然物質與釉藥產生化學反應，樹葉因而變成透明。樹葉邊緣或於窰內燒焦捲曲，然而本盌葉紋貼服完整，尤其難得。

台北故宮博物院藏一例，錄於《故宮宋瓷圖錄：龍泉窰、哥窰及其他民窰》，台北，1974年，圖版72；尚有一例出自艾弗瑞．克拉克收藏，錄於繭山龍泉堂，《龍泉集芳》，卷一，東京，1976年，編號677，並後售於倫敦蘇富比2011年5月11日，編號3。