H x Diam (overall): 28.2 x 16.4 cm (11 1/8 x 6 7/16 in)
Style:
Cizhou or Cizhou-type ware
Type:
Vessel
Origin:
Cizhou kiln network, Shanxi (likely) or Hebei province, China
Date:
12th-mid 14th century
Period:
Jin or Yuan dynasty
Description:
Wine bottle with a full, pear-shaped body tapering to a long, waisted neck ending in a flared mouth with lipped rim. The vessel sits on a splayed, slightly stepped foot that is unglazed on the bottom except where trimming has left a thin strip of glaze on the underside edge. The dark glaze is a lustrous rich brown suffused with fine speckles. A chip is visible on the foot ring.
The decoration consists of three registers set between bands of incised bow-string lines. The middle and largest frieze displays boldly drawn curling leaves attached to a meandering stem, a design interspersed with trilobed Sagittarius leaves. The top zone features oval leaves. The bottom register does not use the "cut glaze" technique but rather boasts a simplified decor of incised petal motifs.
Provenance:
By 1957 to 1977
Dugald Malcolm (1917-2000), method of acquisition unknown [1]
1977
Sale, London, Sotheby's, "The Malcolm Collection Catalogue of Important Chinese Bronzes, Ceramics, and Works of Art," March 29, 1977, lot 143 [2]
By 1987 to 2001/2002
The Idemitsu Collection, method of acquisition unknown [3]
2001/2002 to 2003
Anthony Carter, Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, purchased from The Idemitsu Collection [4]
2003
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Anthony Carter, Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art [5]
Notes:
[1] In 1957 the Malcolm Collection of Chinese objects was on loan to the School of Oriental and African Studies and this object was a part of the collection at that time, as Margaret Medley studied it and published it as part of her 1976 study of Chinese ceramics. See Margaret Medley, "The Chinese Potter: A Practical History of Chinese Ceramics" [book] (Oxford: Phaidon Press, 1976), 135. The text credits Dugald Malcolm as the owner of the object. See also
Mr. J. D. Pearson and members of library staff, "Report: The Library of the School of Oriental and African Studies" in The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 17, no. 1 (November 1957), 185.
[2] Sotheby's, "The Malcolm Collection: Catalogue of Important Chinese Bronzes, Ceramics, and Works of Art" [auction catalogue] (London, March 29, 1977), lot 120.
[3] See Idemitsu Bijutsukan, "Chugoku toji: Idemitsu Bijutsukan zohin zuroku (Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection)" [book] (Tokyo: Idemitsu Bijutsukan, Hatsubai Heibonsha, 1987), no. 523.
[4] Anthony Carter of Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art reported that he acquired from the Idemitsu Collection in 2001 or 2002. See acquisition consideration, February 3, 2003, copy in object file.
[5] The Freer Gallery of Art purchased the object in March 2003. See purchase agreement, copy in object file.
Research updated February 14, 2022
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Chinese Ceramics: 10th–13th Century (November 5, 2011 to December 7, 2015)
Black and White: Chinese Ceramics from the 10th-14th Centuries (December 18, 2004 to November 7, 2010)
