Guan ware

Brush Rest, China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Glazed stoneware, Guan ware. Diameter: 2.8 x 7.6 cm; Overall: 6 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1957.42. There are twelve "hills" on this mountain-shaped brush rest. In China, access to political power was granted to those who passed the civil service examinations, a system that offered official service only at a high level of education. Chinese literati-officials, whose daily routine involved administrative work in an office, enjoyed precious... [Lire la suite]

Celadon glazed foliate bowl, Guan Ware, Southern Song Dynasty, 12th - 13th century. H. 9.1, mouth D. 26.1, bottom D. 7.1. Important Cultural Property. Gift of Dr. Yokogawa Tamisuke, TG1234 © 2004-2017 Tokyo National Museum

Vase in a Song dynasty style, Qing dynasty, Qianlong mark and period (1736-1795), China, Jiangxi province. Porcelain, guan ware. H. 8 3/8 in x Diam. 5 3/4 in, H. 21.3 cm x Diam. 14.6 cm. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60P2321 © 2016 Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture

Celadon-glazed bowl with floral rim, Guan ware, Song dynasty, 1127-1279. Collection of National Palace Museum © National Palace Museum This celadon plate resembling a blossoming lotus has a rim as refined as flower petals. The layer of glaze at the rim is thinner and appears a light brown color, because of the tendency of the glaze to drip downwards. The base of the plate is flat with circular foot, the circular foot retaining the trace of seven tiny supporting nails. Using mud nails to support the porcelain during the... [Lire la suite]

Celadon-glazed zun vessel, Guan ware, Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). © National Palace Museum This celadon zun vessel has a flared mouth, compressed round center and solid foot. Its surface is covered in thick and even celadon glaze, the glaze bright and warm. Its outer wall displays four vertical ridgelines, and due to the slightly thinner layer of glaze bordering the ridgelines, one can see the original dark brown color of the clay below. Due to differences in the speed of heat expansion and cold contraction by... [Lire la suite]

The Qianlong Emperor in Formal Court Attire. Giuseppe Castiglione (Lang Shining), (1688-1766), 1735, Qing Dynasty (1644- 1911). The Palace Museum. The Qianlong Emperor, who was born in 1711 and passed away in 1799, reigned for sixty years (1736-1795). For about three years after abdicating and before his death, he still held onto power in his role as Emperor Emeritus. One of the longest living and ruling monarchs in Chinese history, he became known as "Emperor of the Eighteenth Century." While on the throne, he personally... [Lire la suite]

Sir (James) Alan Noel Barlow (1881–1968), by Walter Stoneman, 1941.© National Portrait Gallery, London Sir Alan Barlow (1881-1968) was a distinguished civil servant and a leading 20th-century collector of Chinese and other eastern ceramics. His particular focus was the fine stonewares and porcelains of the Tang (AD 618-906) and Song (AD 960-1279) dynasties. Deeply committed to public education, he left the collection as a trust to be used in universities and museums by the widest possible audience. In addition to the examples in... [Lire la suite]

Dish, late 12th–13th century, Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). Stoneware with crackled blue glaze (Guan ware), Diam. 8 5/8 in. (21.9 cm). Fletcher Fund, 1924 (24.172.1) © 2000–2016 The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The cracks on this dish, made to resemble the accidental cracks that sometimes occurred during the firing of ceramics, are deliberate. The piece is an example of ceramics produced in south China near the Southern Song capital of Hangzhou to re-create imperial wares produced earlier in the north:... [Lire la suite]

Celadon Vase, one of a pair, Song dynasty, 10th-13th century. Guan ware. High-fired stoneware with blue-green glaze and induced crackle, 5 5/8 x 3 1/4 x 2 3/4 in. (14.3 x 8.3 x 7 cm). Gift of Ruth and Bruce Dayton 2000.210.1 © 2015 All Rights Reserved. Minneapolis Institute of Art When North China fell to non-Chinese tribes in 1127, the Song emperor fled south, establishing his new capital at Hangzhou in Zhejiang province. The new locally produced court ware known as guan or "official" was similar in appearance to the... [Lire la suite]

Brush washer in the shape of a plum blossom, guan ware, China, Southern Song (1127 - 1279), Zhejiang Province, stoneware with crackled glaze, 2.7 x 10.8 cm. Gift of Mr J.H. Myrtle 1998. 60.1998. Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney (C) Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney  'Guan' means 'official' and imperial Guan wares were made for the newly established Southern Song court after the style of wares made previously for the northern court at Kaifeng. Produced at the Guan kilns... [Lire la suite]