Old-World Charm from the Kempe Ceramics Collection

Regina Krahl

This enchanting group of ceramics, formerly in the collection of Dr Carl Kempe, displays an unmistakable old-world collecting flair. Dr Carl Kempe (1884-1967) was a Swedish industrialist, a noted tennis player, who won an Olympic medal, and an avid collector of Chinese art. His collection had two main strands: gold and silver wares and ceramics. The ceramic collection was representing the history of Chinese white wares practically in its entirety, but equally comprised many other types of stoneware and porcelain. It was housed in Kempe’s residence, Ekolsund Castle, a historic building northwest of Stockholm, recorded since the 14th century, that for centuries had served as a royal palace. The collection had largely been formed before the War, a hand-written catalogue had been compiled by Hans Öström already in the 1940s, followed by a printed catalogue written by Bo Gyllensvärd in 1964, when it comprised 900 items. The yellow Kempe labels with their distinctively designed CK logo are unmistakable.

Kempe clearly was not a collector of trophies but an inquisitive mind, whose aim was not only to assemble masterpieces and classics, but equally pieces that still required research. He readily lent to exhibitions, so that pieces from his collection were seen in two of the most important exhibitions of Chinese art of all times, at the Royal Academy of Art in London 1935/6 and at the Palazzo Ducale in Venice 1954; but also several times at the Oriental Ceramic Society in London, of which he was one of the early foreign members; as well as at the Nationalmuseum Stockholm in 1949, the Kunstindustrimuseet Copenhagen in 1950, the Musée Cernuschi Paris in 1956 and elsewhere. Sadly, many pieces included in these early exhibitions can no longer be identified, since the catalogues had few illustrations and only scant descriptions. After Kempe’s death, the collection remained for some time in the family, and a selection toured the United States, starting at Asia House Gallery, New York in 1971. Before eventually being dispersed, it was for some years on display at the East Asian Museum at Ulricehamn, Sweden. The ceramics were sold in 2008 in several highly successful auctions at Sotheby’s in London and Paris, where the prices achieved established a new level of values for Song and earlier stonewares.

Of this famous Kempe collection, these twenty-one white and green wares have remained together as part of a Chinese collection, a small but rather remarkable group that includes two dated vessels (lot 3698 of 977 and lot 3690 of 1089), two items inscribed guan, ‘official’ (lots 3688 and 3692), and several other conspicuous pieces. Noteworthy among the white wares is, for example, the small tripod water vessel with paw feet and lotus décor (lot 3692). It was previously attributed to the Xing kilns of Hebei, and predecessors of similar shape appear to have been made at both the Xing and Ding kilns: one without design, with a more bluish glaze, which leaves the lower part free, was excavated at Dingzhou city, Hebei (Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Dingyao/Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites: Ding Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, p. 274, fig. 11 bottom); another, also more bluish and plain, excavated in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, has been attributed to the Xing kilns (Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Xingyao/Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites. Xing Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, p. 375 top). Guan marks, although altogether rare, were also applied at both kiln centres and were remarkably widely distributed, having been found at Tang, Five Dynasties, Liao and Northern Song sites ranging in date from the late 9th to the 11th century. With its fine ivory-toned glaze and delicate lotus design, the present piece is, however, more likely to have been made in the Ding region.

Another Ding piece must be mentioned, the bowl with its charming, crisply moulded decoration of boys frolicking among peonies (lot 3695). Two pieces probably from the same mould are preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (Dingzhou hua ci. Yuan zang Dingyaoxi baici tezhan/Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou. White Ding wares from the collection of the National Palace Museum, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, nos II-108 and 109), and fragments with very similar motifs were excavated from the Jiancicun site, Dingyao (Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Dingyao/Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites: Ding Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, p. 289, fig. 62).

One of the earliest green wares in this group is an irresistibly modelled owl vessel, its surface textured by stamping, pricking and incising (lot 3691). It is a rare individually fashioned example from kilns in the Yue region of northern Zhejiang, which otherwise tended to produce in quantity. Gyllensvärd duly featured it in one of the very few large illustrations in his catalogue.

A similarly endearing aspect adheres to another small item, the little vessel with four tubular spouts, whose crackled glaze, however, identifies it as a serious Hangzhou guan product (lot 3703). Variously called a flower or an incense holder, it is in any case a classic Southern Song desk item signalling the exquisite taste of its owner.

Most of the pieces in this group are easy to attribute at our present state of knowledge, so we can correct Gyllensvärd’s misattribution of a celadon bowl to Korea, which would seem to be Chinese (lot 3706). Yet, continuous excavations and the discovery of ever new kiln sites in China raise intriguing new questions. Excavations in Henan province, for example, have brought to light several manufactories – including the imperial Ru kilns of Baofeng – that made wares of Jun type, with blue glazes, with copper-splashed blue glazes and with green glazes, besides the best-known workshops of these wares at Yuntai. What at first glance looks like a classic green Jun bowl in the collection, may well have been made at one of the kiln centres in Ru territory (lot 3699). The Donggou kilns located at Dayu to the east of Ruzhou city, north of Baofeng, yielded not only wares with Jun glazes, but also celadon, white wares, white wares with black painted designs, as well as biscuit-fired pieces and kiln furniture, among them a green-glazed ‘Jun’ bowl of very similar shape as the present piece, but slightly larger (Henan xinchu Song Jin mingyao ciqi tezhan [Special exhibition of porcelains recently excavated from famous Song and Jin kilns in Henan], Poly Art Museum, Beijing, 2009, p. 154 top), and pieces of similar glaze colour and with similar treatment of foot and base, both partially glazed, with a ring on the base wiped nearly free of glaze (Gugong Bowuyuan cang Zhongguo gudai yaozhi biaoben [Specimens from ancient Chinese kiln sites in the collection of the Palace Museum], vol. 1: Henan juan [Henan volume], Beijing, 2005, no. 470). A re-evaluation of his collection in the light of such new discoveries would most likely have pleased its former Swedish owner.

Lot 3688. A Dingyao white-glazed foliate-rim bowl with an inscribed 'guan' mark, Five dynasties (907-960); 13.5 cm. Lot sold 756,000 HKD (Estimate : 200,000 - 300,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022

the base with a six-character seal mark in underglaze blue.

Property from the Houlezhai Collection.

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London (label).

Collection of Dr Carl Kempe (1884-1967), no. CK338.

Sotheby's London, 5th November 2008, lot 452 (part lot).

Literature: Gustaf Lindberg, 'Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao', The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 25, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 49, fig. 44.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 338.

Thomas Dexel, Frühe Keramik in China [Early Ceramic in China], Braunschweig, 1973, pl. 58c.

Margaret Medley, T'ang Pottery and Porcelain, London, 1981, pl. 115. 

Note: A similar and larger example, also inscribed with a Guan mark, is preserved in the Taipei Palace Museum, attributed to the 10th century, Five Dynasties - Northern Song dynasty, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou, Taipei, 2014, cat. no. I-18, where the author mentions bowls of this type were also discovered in a Five Dynasties tomb attributed to the Wang noble family of Yang Wu (year 933), and in a Liao dynasty noble consort tomb (year 959). 

Lot 3689. A Yue celadon 'bixie' waterpot, Western Jin dynasty (265-316); 17.2 cm. Lot sold 189,000 HKD (Estimate : 120,000 - 180,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022

Property from the Houlezhai Collection.

Provenance: Bluett & Sons, London (label).

Collection of Dr Carl Kempe (1884-1967), no. CK15.

Sotheby's London, 14th May 2008, lot 201.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 15.

Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections, vol. 8: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 20.

Chinese Ceramic Treasures. A Selection from the Ulricehamn East Asian Museum, Including the Carl Kempe Collection, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 238.

Exhibited: Kinas Kunst i Svensk og Dansk eje [Chinese Art in Swedish and Danish Collections], Kunstindustrimuseet, Copenhagen, 1950, cat. no. 251.

Note: Another water vessel of this bixie form, excavated in 1952 from a Western Jin tomb at Huangjiuba, in the northeastern suburbs of Yangzhou, and now in the Nanjing Museum, is illustrated in Jiangsu Liuchao Qingci [Celadon Throughout The Six Dynasties in Jiangsu Province], Beijing, 1980, pl. 54. One in the Buffalo Museum of Science was included in the China Institute in America Exhibition of the Art of the Six Dynasties, 1975, cat. no. 6; and one in the Victoria & Albert Museum, illustrated in Osvald Siren, Kinas Konst Under Tre Artusenden, Stockholm, 1942, vol. 1, fig. 329, from the Eumorfopoulos collection.

Lot 3690. A rare Dingyao white-glazed box and cover, Northern Song dynasty, dated Yuanyou 4th year, corresponding to 1089; 12.5 cm. Lot sold 239,400 HKD (Estimate : 180,000 - 200,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022

Property from the Houlezhai Collection.

Provenance: Collection of Dr Carl Kempe (1884-1967), no. CK403.

Sotheby's London, 5th November 2008, lot 502.

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 403.

Mary Tregear, Song Ceramics, London, 1982, pl. 64.

Exhibited: Kinas Kunst i Svensk og Dansk eje [Chinese Art in Swedish and Danish Collections], Kunstindustrimuseet, Copenhagen, 1950, cat. no. 388.

Note: This rare dated Dingyao box was greatly admired by Mary Tregear, who included it in her landmark 1982 publication Song Ceramics, where she described it as 'an important document because of the dated inscription on the base'. Another Dingyao box and cover from the Yang De Tang Collection was sold in our New York rooms, 17th March 2015, lot 66.

Lot 3691. A rare Yue celadon owl-shaped box and cover, Six dynasties (220-589); h. 6 cm, w. 8 cm. Lot sold 1,638,000 HKD (Estimate : 200,000 - 300,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022

Property from the Houlezhai Collection.

Provenance: Collection of Dr Carl Kempe (1884-1967), no. CK13.

Sotheby's London, 5th November 2008, lot 541 (part lot).

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 13.

Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 21.

Chinese Ceramic Treasures. A Selection from the Ulricehamn East Asian Museum, Including the Carl Kempe Collection, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 236.

Note: This irresistibly modelled owl vessel, its surface textured by stamping, pricking and incising, is a rare individually fashioned example from kilns in the Yue region of northern Zhejiang, which otherwise tended to produce in quantity. Gyllensvärd duly featured it in one of the very few large illustrations in his catalogue.

See a related Yue celadon 'owl' vessel and cover, attributed to the Western Jin dynasty, illustrated in Special Exhibition of Early Chinese Greenware: Principally Yueh Ware, National Museum of History, Taipei, 1996, pl. 42; it has a taller and more robust body, but the glaze is not as lustrous as the present piece. The author mentions that the 'owl' form has long been recorded in China since the Neolithic period, for example, a Yangshao culture owl-shaped pottery vessel unearthed in Shaanxi. The present 'owl' vessel possibly also draws inspiration from archaic bronze wine vessels, zun, from the Shang (16th century-c.1046 BC) and Western Zhou (c.1046-771 BC) dynasties, where owl form and motifs were common and widespread. Compare also a Yue celadon 'beast' vessel, recovered from a Westen Jin tomb dated to year 302 and now preserved in the Nanjing Museum. Both Western Jin vessels mentioned above have feet or talons applied several centimetres above the flat base, and are decorated with similar loop handles; these two particular decorative features can also be found in the present piece.

Lot 3692. A rare Dingyao tripod waterpot with an inscribed 'guan' mark, Tang - Five Dynasties (618-960); 6.5 cm. Lot sold 2,772,000 HKD (Estimate : 1,500,000 - 2,500,000 HKD). © Sotheby's 2022

Property from the Houlezhai Collection.

Provenance: Collection of Dr Carl Kempe (1884-1967).

Sotheby's London, 14th May 2008, lot 226.

Literature: Gustaf Lindberg, 'Hsing-Yao and Ting-Yao', The Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 25, Stockholm, 1953, pl. 16, fig. 13.

Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 389.

Oriental Ceramics. The World's Great Collections: Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 93.

Chinese Ceramic Treasures. A Selection from the Ulricehamn East Asian Museum, Including the Carl Kempe Collection, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 591.

Exhibited: International Exhibition of Chinese Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935-6, cat. no. 982.

Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 358.

The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1955, cat. no. 171.

Chinese Gold, Silver and Porcelain. The Kempe Collection, Asia House Gallery, New York, 1971, cat. no. 96, a touring exhibition also shown at nine other museums in the United States.

Note: Delicately potted with subtle lobes resembling a lotus bud and enveloped in a warm ivory-white glaze, the present vessel epitomises the aesthetic ideal at the dawn of white-ware production. The feet, each modelled in the form of an animal’s paw, add to the charm of the vessel.

Although both Xing and Ding kilns in Hebei appear to have produced jarlets of similar shape, the creamy-white tone of the glaze and delicate lotus design of this vessel indicate a likely attribution to the latter site. A Dingyao waterpot of comparable form, with a more bluish glaze stop short above the feet but otherwise undecorated, was excavated at Dingzhou city, Hebei, and included in Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Dingyao / Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites: Ding Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, p. 274, fig. 11 bottom. Compare a related example attributed to the Xing kilns, also more bluish and plain, excavated in Xi’an, Shaanxi province and published in Zhongguo gu ciyao daxi. Zhongguo Xingyao / Series of China’s Ancient Porcelain Kiln Sites. Xing Kiln of China, Beijing, 2012, p. 375 top.