A rare Cizhou green-glazed 'sgraffiato' 'floral' vase, Song - Jin dynasty | 宋至金　磁州窰綠地墨彩剔花卷口瓶

Jishuyo Meihinten [Masterpieces of Cizhou wares], Nihon Toji Kyokai Osaka shibu (Japan Ceramic Society, Osaka Branch), 1969, no 14 (unillustrated).

Tokuebetsu ten Shiro to Kuro no kyoen chugoku jishuyo-kei toki no sekai [Special Exhibition Charm of Black & White ware; Transition of Cizhou type wares], The Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, 2002, illust. Part 2 108.

The item had been deposited at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts.

This magnificent vase belongs to a small group of Cizhou wares decorated with a black floral design under a green glaze. Vessels of this type appear to have been a specialty of the celebrated Guantai kilns, Cixian, Hebei province, around the late Northern Song (960-1127) and early Jin (1115-1234) dynasties. Coloured with copper pigments, this rare glazing represents one of the earliest examples of low-fired enameling on high-fired stoneware and was one of very few bright colours available at the time of production. Very similar fragmentary vases of this type have been recovered directly from the Guantai kiln site, see Guantai Cizhou yaozhi / The Cizhou Kiln Site at Guantai, Beijing, 1997, pl. 70:1; and Haku to koku no kyōen/Charm of Black and White Ware: Transition of Cizhou Type Wares, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, 2002, cat. nos 11-1 and 11-2; as well as similar examples of this design found in the more conventional white-ground colouration without the addition of low-fired green. Compare fragments of the latter type in op. cit., Beijing, 1997, col. pl. 9:2; pl. 13:3 (centre); pl. 23:1 and 2; and p. 123, fig. 52:1 and 4; and op. cit., Osaka, 2002, cat. nos 71- and 71-2.

The present rare Cizhou variety is much coveted by collectors, still preserving in its decoration the vitality and creativity of its ancient maker, brought to life by the lively green glaze. Compare a similar green-glazed vase preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pl. 58, attributed to the Song dynasty; another in the Fondation Baur, Geneva illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur Collection Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74, vol. I, pl. A 78; a third vase included in the Osaka Municipal Museum exhibition, op. cit., Osaka 2002, cat. no. 108, and again in Xian shi yu ya qi. Taihua Guxuan cang Song Yuan zhenpin / Graces of Song Wares. Treasures from PT Collection, Beijing, 2019, vol. 1, p. 67, fig. 80:2, where Qin Dashu discusses Cizhou vases of this type and attributes the Osaka piece to the Jin dynasty.

Vases of this type also include one in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3, pt. II, London, 2006, pl. 1541; one from the Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, included in the exhibition Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600AD, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1980, cat. no. 95; a third sold in these rooms, 28th November 2018, lot 631; and a fourth sold in our London rooms, 1st November 2023, lot 179.

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《磁州窯名品展》, 日本陶磁協会大阪支部, 1969年, 編號14（沒載圖）

《特別展白と黒の競演 －中國・磁州窯系陶器の世界》，大阪市立美術館，大阪，2002年，第2部，圖版108

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