Lot 3075. A ‘Jian’ ‘Hare’s Fur’ tea bowl, Song dynasty (960-1279); 12 cm, 4 3/4  in. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2018.

heavily potted standing on a low foot, the deep conical body rising to a shallow concave groove at the mouth, applied in a lustrous bluish-black glaze with streaks of brown radiating from the subtly waisted mouth, the dark glaze stopping above the foot to reveal the unglazed body, the rim bound with metal.

Provenance: Collection of Montague Meyer (label).

Note: The humble appearances of 'hare's fur' tea bowls made them appropriate for use in Buddhist temples, and they were held in great esteem throughout the Song dynasty (960-1279). Dramatically contrasting with the white foam of whipped tea, bowls enveloped in this lustrous black glaze were greatly appreciated and soon gained popularity beyond monastic circles. Emperor Huizong (r. 1101-1125), well known for his love for tea, stated that black-glazed tea bowls, especially those decorated with 'hare's fur' like the present example, were the most desirable. Together with whipped tea, Song dynasty 'Jian' tea bowls are believed to have arrived in Japan in the Kamakura period (1185-1333) when Zen Buddhism was introduced, and have been greatly treasured there ever since.

A similar bowl was included in the exhibition Karamono temmoku [Chinese temmoku], MOA Art Museum, Atami, 1994, cat. no. 6. This exhibition catalogue, where a few important heirloom temmoku tea bowls preserved in Japan were juxtaposed with a large sample of excavated specimens from the kiln site, documented the wide range of qualities and the excellence of the examples collected in Japan. Another bowl in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, was included in the exhibition Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., 1996, cat. no. 83.

A 'jian' hare's fur bowl from the collection of Montague Meyer, possibly the current bowl, was sold at Christie’s London, 14th April 1980, lot 176.

Sotheby's. Curiosity IV, Hong Kong, 02 Apr 2018, 10:30 AM