A magnificent and exceedingly rare fine ge foliate dish, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Estimate HK$40,000,000 – HK$50,000,000 ($5,185,440 - $6,481,800). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The dish is well potted with shallow sides flaring up and out to the notched rim which is divided into six shallow lobes. It is covered overall with a lustrous glaze of creamy-grey tone suffused with a wide network of black 'iron-wire' crackle joined by finer gold 'golden thread' crackle which continues over the slightly tapering ring foot to cover the base with six spur marks that show the dark grey ware. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm.) diam., box

Provenance: C.F. Yao, New York
Stephen Junkunc, III Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 24 March 2004, lot 151
Sen Shu Tey, Tokyo

Linyushanren Ge ware dish 

A Treasure Among Classic Wares 

Rosemary Scott, International Academic Director Asia Art  

Chinese connoisseurs of ceramics have traditionally esteemed the wares of the Song dynasty (960-1279) above all others for their elegant forms enhanced with subtly-coloured monochrome glazes. During the Ming dynasty when connoisseurs choose to honour classes of Song ceramics which had been appreciated by the imperial court and members of the Song elite for their refined beauty, they named Ru ( 汝), Guan ( 官), Ge ( 哥), Jun ( 鈞), and Ding ( 定) wares as the 五大名瓷 wu daming ci ‘Five Famous Wares of the Song’. The beautiful little Ge ware dish in the current sale exemplifies all the lauded aesthetic qualities of this group.

After the Song court was forced, by the Jurchen invaders, to leave their northern capital at 汴京Bianjing (modern day 開封Kaifeng), and even their temporary refuge at 應天府Yingtianfu (modern 商 丘Shangqiu) in Henan province, they retreated south and set up what became known as the Southern Song court at 臨安Lin’an (modern day 杭州Hangzhou), in Zhejiang province. The Ru wares which had been made for the Northern Song Emperor Huizong (r. AD 1100-1126) had been produced in the north in Henan – a region then controlled by the Jurchen invaders – and were no longer available to the Song court. The Southern Song therefore sought alternative ceramic wares and in time established kilns in the Hangzhou area to produce fine ceramics for the court. The kilns mentioned in early texts – 郊壇下 Jiaotanxia and 修内 司Xiuneisi – which made Guan wares have been discovered, the latter at 老虎洞Laohudong, and excavated. However those making the other crackled-glaze ware, Ge ware, have not yet been conclusively identified. These Ge wares and Guan wares have been the subjects of intense research both within China and elsewhere in recent years among scholars and collectors alike. Both Guan ware and Ge ware are characterized by subtlycoloured glazes which were deliberately crackled to achieve a fine network of lines over the surface of the vessel. One of the reasons that these crackle lines were admired was probably that they were reminiscent of the fissures in jade, the most prized of all natural materials.

Traditionally Ge ware was attributed to one of the Song dynasty kilns run by two brothers from the Zhang family - Zhang Shengyi and Zhang Sheng’er - in Chu prefecture, and the name Ge ware was said to derive from the term gege (elder brother). Although this story is even repeated in the Zhejiang tongzhi ( 浙江通志)  Zhejiang Provincial Gazetteer) of 1561, it has little basis in fact, but was retold many times. The late Professor Wang Qingzheng 汪慶 正 undertook considerable research into the literary evidence for the name Ge ware 哥 窯. He was unable to locate a reference in Song dynasty literature, but noted that the Yuan dynasty scholar Kong Qi 孔齊 in his Candid Records of the Zhizheng Era (c. 1365, Zhizheng zhi ji 至正直記) mentioned both gege dong yao ( 哥哥 洞窯 ‘kiln in the elder brother’s cave’) and gege yao ( 哥哥窯 ‘elder brother’s kiln’). The early Ming dynasty author Cao Zhao 曹昭 also used the term gege yao in The Essential Criteria of Antiquities (1388, Gegu yaolun 格古要論). The first reference to Ge yao in surviving literature appears to be in the 1428 publication Manual of Xuande Ritual Vessels (Xuande ding yi pu 宣德鼎彜譜). It seems likely that these all refer to the same ware or kiln, but that the name became simplified over time. 

Ge and Guan wares were not only appreciated in their own era, but have been treasured by Chinese emperors of succeeding dynasties, as well as by less exalted collectors right up to the present day. The high regard in which such pieces were held by the Qing Emperor Qianlong (1736-95), for instance, is demonstrated by the text of some of the inscriptions which were applied on his orders on both Ge and Guan wares in the Qing imperial collection and recorded in Complete Collection of Works by the Qing Emperor Gaozong [Qianlong], Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji ( 清高宗御製詩文全集). Several such inscriptions appear on early crackled wares in the collection of Sir Percival David, as well as those in the palace collections. Part of one such inscription on a Ge ware crackled-glaze vase (inventory number PDF 94) reads: ‘Despite the pattern of hundreds of intermingling crackle lines, its texture is fine and smooth to the touch. This is the work of the talented Elder brother. One discovers that the value of these undecorated wares is the same as that of unpolished gems. How could one compare these and the more elaborate products of Xuan[de] and Cheng[hua]? Each has its own individual charm’.

百圾雖粉撫則平 處州陶實出難兄
一般樸質稱珍重 那誠精工宣與成

The inscription is dated to the cyclical year yisi 乙巳year [AD 1785]. The text of the inscription appears with the title: ‘On a vase of Ge ware with two ears’ in Complete Collection of Works by the Qing Emperor Gaozong, vol. 28, section V. Another inscription on a dish in the collection of Sir Percival David provides a suggestion of a literary work to which the Qianlong Emperor traced the name Ge ware. The inscription on this dish (inventory PDF 14), is dated to the cyclical yiwei 乙未year [AD 1775] and can be found under the title ‘On a Dish of Ge ware’ in Complete Collection of Works by the Qing Emperor Gaozong, vol. 26, section 1V. Part of the inscription reads: ‘Had we not read the essays from the Spring Wind Hall [Chunfengtang suibi by Lu Shen AD 1477-1544], how could we know whence Ge ware got its name.’ ( 春風堂不觀随筆 那識哥窑所得名).

The Qianlong Emperor’s admiration for these crackled-glaze vessels can also be seen from the fact that dishes similar to the current example appear in several informal portraits of the emperor. One such portrait is the famous Anonymous painting entitled ‘One or Two?’, of which there are three versions in the Palace Museum, Beijing. One of these is illustrated in the catalogue of the exhibition The Qianlong Emperor - Treasures from the Forbidden City, National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2002, p. 112, no. 59. The Qianlong emperor is shown seated on a day-bed in front of a screen on which is hung a portrait of himself, and surrounded by precious objects from his famous collection of antiques. One of these is a small crackled dish similar to the current piece.

The great value placed upon Song crackled dishes like the current example can also be seen in their preservation in the Palace Museum collections. The current dish is very similar in shape and colour to a slightly smaller Ge ware dish in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Porcelain of the National Palace Museum - Ko Ware of the Sung Dynasty, Book II, Hong Kong, 1962, no 52 (fig. 1). The Taipei dish has, however, been fired on its foot rim, rather than on spurs. Another Ge ware dish in the National Palace Museum, illustrated in the same publication, no. 47, shares similar form with the current piece, but is larger and heavier with some discoloration to the glaze. This Taipei dish, however, bears an inscription applied on the orders of the Qianlong emperor crediting the dish with having been made in the famous Xuanhe reign period (AD 1119-25) of the Song dynasty - under the auspices of the great Imperial collector and antiquarian, Emperor Huizong. The inscription tells us that it was applied to the dish in the Qianlong bingshen year (equivalent to AD 1776).

fig. 1. A Ge ware foliate dish, Song Dynasty, Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

A number of Guan ware dishes of this form, which have been fired on spurs, have also been preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei. These have been illustrated in the Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1989, nos. 118-24 (fig. 2). Further examples of similar form, but which have been fired standing on their foot rims, are illustrated in the same volume, nos. 125-31. The Percival David Foundation, London, also has in its collection both Ge and Guan ware dishes of this form, fired on spurs. These are discussed by Rosemary Scott in ‘Guan or Ge Ware? A reexamination of some pieces in the Percival David Foundation,’ Oriental Art, vol. XXXIX, no. 2, 1993, pp. 19-20. The David Foundation dish closest in potting and glaze colour to the current piece is illustrated in pl. 14 (fig. 3). This David Foundation Guan ware dish bears a Qianlong inscription dated AD 1776 - the same date as the inscription on the National Palace Museum Ge ware dish mentioned above. Both the London and Taipei collections include a number of pieces which have had Qianlong poetic inscriptions incised into their base glazes.

fig. 2. A Guan ware foliate dish, Southern Song Dynasty, Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei.

fig. 3. A Guan ware foliate dish, Southern Song Dynasty, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art © The Trustees of the British Museum.

Examination of these Qianlong inscriptions highlights the subject on which there has been active debate among scholars and connoisseurs - the difficulty of determining whether a particular piece should be described as Guan ware or Ge ware. Certainly to judGe from the Qianlong emperor's inscriptions, he was inconsistent in his attributions. Distinguishing between Ge and Guan ware is not greatly aided by the historical texts, which merely say that they looked similar to one another. A symposium held by the Shanghai Museum in October 1992 brought toGether all the leading Song ceramic scholars from China and elsewhere to discuss Ge ware and the ways to distinguish it from Guan ware. The most widely recognized distinguishing features of Ge ware were felt by these scholars to be that its glaze has the so-called jinsi tiexian 'golden thread and iron wire' crackle and a softly opaque glaze. The debate regarding the exact period of production and kiln site for Ge ware continues, but this elegant dish has all the qualities we would expect of a vessel intended for imperial appreciation.

Literature: The Los Angeles County Museum, Chinese Ceramics from the Prehistoric Period Through Ch'ien Lung: A Loan Exhibition from Collections in America and Japan, Los Angeles, 1952, p. 69, no. 111
Sen Shu Tey, The Collection of Chinese Art, Tokyo, 2006, p. 48, no. 57
Christie's, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 188-191, no. 80
Rosemary Scott, ‘Chinese Classic Wares from a Japanese Collection: Song Ceramics from the Linyushanren Collection’,Arts of Asia, March-April 2014, pp. 97-108, fig. 22

Exhibited: The Los Angeles County Museum, Chinese Ceramics from the Prehistoric Period Through Ch'ien Lung: A Loan Exhibition from Collections in America and Japan, 14 March to 27 April 1952, Catalogue, Catalogue, no. 111
Sen Shu Tey, Special Exhibition ‘Run Through 10 Years’, Tokyo, 2006, Catalogue, no. 57
Christie's, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 22 to 27 November 2012; New York, 15 to 20 March 2013; London, 10 to 14 May 2013, Catalogue, no. 80

The current dish illustrated in the Los Angeles County Museum, Chinese Ceramics from the Prehistoric Period Through Ch’ien Lung: A Loan Exhibition from Collections in America and Japan, Los Angeles, 1952; Photographer Unknown, Source: Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Christie's. THE CLASSIC AGE OF CHINESE CERAMICS - THE LINYUSHANREN COLLECTION, PART I, 2 December 2015, Convention Hall