Sgraffiato foliate-rim jar with peony scroll design, Cizhou Kiln, Northern Song Dynasty, 11th-12th century

7 août 2023

Sgraffiato foliate-rim jar with peony scroll design, Cizhou Kiln, Northern Song Dynasty, 11th-12th century

Provenance: Dikran G. Kelekian (1867-1951) Collection.
Sotheby's New York, 26 March 1999, lot 296 (part lot).

Exhibited: Le Musée des Arts Décoratifs , Musée du Louvre, Paris, 1914.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, 1917.
Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, 1931-48.

Note: This is an unusual vase with a ring-shaped rim made in the Northern Song dynasty's Cizhou kiln. ``Shiroji Kakuotoshi'', which expresses a gray background by scraping off the white clay that is thickly hung on the base before it dries, is less flashy than the ``Shirojikuro Kakuotoshi'', which has a striking contrast between black and white. There is no, but there is an elegant flavor to that extent. In this work as well, the soft molding of the mouth rim creates an elegant impression.

The torso is deeply carved with peony arabesque patterns, and there is a rhythm of white and gray colors and arabesques. The technique of expressing patterns by deep carving is very sculptural, three-dimensional, and powerful. There is also a theory that deep carvings like this one were invented by potters from the high-relief carvings of the Six Dynasties period that can be seen in the Hidang Mountain Grottoes in Hebei Province, where the Cizhou kilns are located. You may be able to feel Western elements and Buddhist beauty in arabesque patterns. In any case, the appeal of this work is the competition between pottery and carving.

This vase was exhibited at an exhibition at the beginning of the 20th century, one of the first in the history of ceramics to be admired. The fact that his work has been exhibited in Chicago and Cleveland, including the 1914 exhibition at the Louvre Museum, is very valuable. Former collector Dikran G. Kelekian (1867-1951) was a collector-dealer of Islamic and Chinese art. This wide-mouthed jar from the cichou kiln has an atmosphere somewhat similar to that of Western culture, and he must have been able to see through that feeling.