CHINESE JIZHOU 'TORTOISESHELL' GLAZED BOWL
SOUTHERN SONG TO YUAN DYNASTY, 13TH CENTURY
Estimate: £2,500 - £3,500
Auction: 12 March 2025 from 10:00 GMT
Description
南宋至元 吉州玳瑁釉盞
with conical sides rounding up towards the rim, covered inside and out with a rich dark glaze liberally splashed in translucent brown and amber glaze suffused with creamy yellow tone, imitating mottled tortoiseshell, the unglazed base with remanent of ink
Dimensions
11cm diameter
Provenance
Private Hong Kongese collection
香港私人收藏
Footnote
Southern Song potters at Jiangxi province's Jizhou kilns developed this lively dappled glaze to apply to various forms of stoneware cups, bowls, and vases. Known in Chinese and English as 'tortoiseshell' glaze, it is characterised by an overall black-coffee colour inflected with creamy tones ranging from deep amber to taupe, as seen on the present bowls. The effect seems to have been created by first dipping the vessel in a medium-brown slip glaze then, following the drying, dipping it in a darker brown glaze slurry, splashing it with a paste of wood or bamboo-ash and water, drying it again, and finally firing it right side up in the saggar.