Lot 589. An inscribed 'Jian' 'hare's fur' teabowl, Song dynasty; 12 cm., 4 3/4  in. Estimate 180,000 — 250,000 HKD (21,601 - 30,002 EUR). Unsold. Photo Sotheby's

of conical form with flaring sides slightly bulging below the rim, applied on the exterior and interior with a black glaze mottled with russet streaks evoking hare's fur, pooling in an uneven line issuing two thick drops above the base revealing a dark reddish-brown body, the rim left unglazed, the base incised with a two-character tribute mark gongyu, possibly later added.

Property from a private East Asian collection  

Note: This bowl represents the classic form of tea ware produced during the Song dynasty (960-1279) at the kilns in Jianyang, Fujian province, for both Imperial and local consumption, as well as for export to Japan. From literature it is known that the very best quality Jian bowls were inscribed with either the characters gong yu (‘Imperial tribute’), such as this bowl, or jinzhan (‘Presentation tea bowl’) and sent as tribute to the court. Jian tea bowls were celebrated for their unique suitability for tea drinking as the fine foam of the whisked powdered tea contrasted attractively against the dark glaze. The thickness of body and glaze also helped keep the tea warm and protected the hands of the drinker against the hot beverage. The Huizong Emperor (r. 1100-1126) was particularly fond of Jian tea wares, and in his Daguan chalun [Treaties on tea] praises those with hare fur’s marking as the most desirable (see Robert D. Mowry, Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell,  and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., 1996, p. 207).

Fragments of bowls with hare’s fur markings and gong yu marks have been unearthed at kiln sites in Jianyang; one is illustrated in James M. Plumer, Temmoku. A Study of the Ware of Chien, Tokyo, 1972, pl. 50, where the author mentions (p. 77) two further examples excavated in 1954; and another was included in the exhibition Tokubetsuben chamono tenmoku. Fukken shō shutsudo tenmoku to Nihon densei no tenmoku [Special exhibition on tenmoku tea ware. Tenmoku excavated from Fujian province and their transmission to Japan], MOA Art Museum, Atami, 1994, cat. no. 40. See also a Jian hare’s fur tea bowl of this form and with the gong yu mark in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Washington D.C., included in the exhibition Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers, op. cit., cat. no. 76;  another sold in our London rooms, 12th June 1990, lot 177; and a third sold in these rooms, 28th April 1992, lot 5.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art. Hong Kong, 01 Jun 2015, 03:15 PM