Lot 90. A 'Jian' 'Hare's Fur' bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279). Diameter 5 in., 12.7 cm. Estimate 20,000 — 30,000 USD. Lot sold 52,500 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

the robustly potted body with deep rounded sides rising from a short straight foot to a slightly everted rim, covered overall with a lustrous black glaze suffused with russet 'hare's fur' streaks extending from the rim down the interior and exterior, the glaze falling short of the foot to reveal the purplish-brown stoneware body. 

Note: Although bowls of this type were made in large quantities by the Jian kilns in Fujian province, the present bowl is exceptional for its lustrous glaze. It displays all the major characteristics of wares of this type in an exemplary fashion: the delicate and even russet-brown striations reminiscent of hare's fur, the rich glaze forming a thick wall around the body and pooling towards the foot, and the faint groove below the rim for ease of secure gripping and slow drinking. From literature it is known that the very best quality Jian bowls were carefully selected as tribute from Fujian to the court. Jian teabowls were renowned for their unique suitability for tea drinking as the fine foam of the whisked powdered tea contrasted attractively against the dark glaze of the vessel. The thickness of the glaze helped keep the beverage warm and protected the hands of the drinker against scalding.

See similar bowls of this type, including one from the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, included in the Museum’s exhibition Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers, Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers, Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-600, Cambridge, 1995, cat. no. 79; another, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 204; another bowl with a metal-bound rim in the Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, illustrated in Chugoku no toji.  Temmoku. Tokyo, 1999, pl. 39; and a fourth in the Meiyintang Collection, also with a metal-bound rim, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, vol. 1, 1994, no. 530. 

Sotheby's. Song Tradition: Early Ceramics from the Yang De Tang Collection. New York, 17 march 2015, 11:00 AM