A Jian 'hare's fur' temmoku tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty | 南宋　建窰黑釉兔毫盞

Covered in an exquisite dappled glaze with iridescent ‘hare’s fur’ markings, this bowl is typical of the high quality of wares produced in the Song dynasty (960-1279) at the Jian kilns in northern Fujian province. 

The famed tea bowls of Jian developed in tandem with the tea-drinking traditions of the period. At the time, tea was prepared, imbibed, and served by Chan Buddhist priests for its beneficial effects on the body and mind. The elaborate, ritualized process­ of tea preparation – in which tea was dried, scraped from a pressed cake, ground, sifted, mixed with warm water to form a paste, and gradually whisked to a froth as additional water was added – played a central role in Chan religious ceremonies. By the reign of the Emperor Huizong (r. 1101-25), tea drinking had also become a fashionable activity in elite social circles. Sacred and secular enthusiasts alike sought to master the art of tea-making and achieve the richest possible froth.

The physical properties of Jian bowls made them particularly suited for tea preparation and enjoyment. In size and form, they were comfortable to hold; their heavy potting had an insulating effect, keeping the tea inside hot while protecting one’s fingers from the heat, and their speckled black glazes, with a subtle iridescence of refracted light, heightened the aesthetic experience of a well-formed white froth. Made in the same province as the Empire's most prized teas, the Jian bowls of Fujian were inextricably linked to their contents. As Cai Xiang (1012-1067) noted in his treatise on the subject, the Chalü (‘Records of Tea’): 

“Tea is of a light color and so suits a dark teacup: the cups produced in Jian’an are of a purple-black color with markings like hare’s fur. Their walls are quite thick so that when they are heated, they stay warm for a long period of time and don’t get cold quickly. They are especially useful on account of this.”

As Jian wares continued to grow in popularity, connoisseurs began to view certain glaze properties as particularly admirable. The pooling of glaze into droplets by the piece’s foot, for example, is a celebrated feature of highest quality Jian tea bowls. Similarly, the long streaks of ‘hare’s fur’ (tuhao) on the present lot were and continue to be much beloved features of Jian bowls, known to Japanese collectors as nogime (‘ears of rice’). These dazzling streaks emerge spontaneously during the chaos of firing as iron oxides are pulled from the glaze and run down the piece’s surface. Although manipulating the body and glaze compositions, the kiln temperature and the cooling process afforded the Jian artisans some control over the final product, the enchanting surface of each tea bowl is the unique result of a chaotic process; a celebration of uncertainty. 

Compare a similar bowl with metal rim mount illustrated in Koyama Fujio, ed., Tōki zenshū: Tenmoku [Complete works of pottery: Tenmoku], Tokyo, 1968, fig. 30; also compare a bowl of similar glaze appearance without a metal rim mount in the collection of the Harvard Art Museums (acc. no. 1940.3), exhibited in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., 1996, cat. no. 79, where it is compared to two excavated Northern Song examples from Luhuaping and Dalu Houmen kiln sites. 

For other examples of similar quality sold at auction, see the Jian temmoku bowl sold in these rooms, 20th September 2023, lot 770; another from the Aoyama studio, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 8th April 2023, lot 3674; and another from the Plesch and Pilkington Collections, sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 6th April 2016, lot 12 and again 9th October 2020, lot 31.