An extremely large Jian 'hare's fur' 'nogime temmoku' bowl, Southern Song dynasty | 南宋 建窰兔毫禾目天目斗笠盌

An old French collection.

Mayuyama & Co., Ltd, Tokyo.

法國舊藏

繭山龍泉堂，東京

The humble appearance of bowls produced at the Jian kilns in Fujian province made them appropriate for use in Buddhist temples. The Song Emperor Huizong (r. 1101-1125) stated that black-glazed bowls, especially those decorated with 'hare's fur' like the present example, were the most desirable. These bowls were likely already brought to Japan in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) when Japanese monks discovered the art of ritual tea preparation at Buddhist temples in southern China.

Jian black-glazed conical bowls of such generous dimension as the present lot are extremely rare. They were probably not used for drinking the very popular whipped tea from Fujian and were therefore made in smaller numbers. During the excavation at Luhuaping in Jianyang, Fujian, only three large conical bowls were recovered, against a total of 980 tea bowls, see Robert D. Mowry, Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 1995, p. 207, p. 217.

兔毫者，舉世稀珍，釉色盈潤光潔。細觀兔毫其紋，纖俊秀逸，宛若清清細雨，隨雲起，破長空醉舞，飄然 落，又如屢屢銀波，伴明月，邀靜夜輕風，拂水過。建窰兔毫，謙素而內斂，多為佛寺所用。宋徽宗趙佶曾 言道：「盞色貴青黑，玉毫條達者為上」。鐮倉時代，大宋精髓隨禪宗東渡，導日人尚建盞、研茶道、修禪 門，人盡奉之，以為至珍。

此兔毫斗笠盌，尺寸碩大，在建窰器中稀若鳳毛麟角，較適合作香料鮮果茶盞。有別於仰口盞，撇沿之盌應 不用於流行當時之福建泡沫茶，故此製作數量較少。建窰蘆花坪遺址出土980件茶盞，僅有三件屬大型撇口 盌，見毛瑞，《Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers》，哈佛大學藝術博物館，劍橋，1995年，頁 217。