A RARE `GE' MALLOW-SHAPED TRIPOD BRUSHWASHER SONG DYNASTY

of octagonal form with slightly flared sides and everted rim, each lobe divided by a notched facet to the rim, the concave base with an arrangement of eight spurs around a central ninth spur, unglazed showing the greyish body also evident on the base of each of the short cabriole legs, covered overall with a light celadon translucent glaze with a dense network of black and golden-brown crackles

Christie's Hong Kong, 31st October 1994, lot 528.

'Ge' wares, similar to the official 'Guan'  wares but with a more opaque buff or beige glaze and distinct blackstaining often with a secondary rust-red crackle, are only known from post-Song texts and are generally accepted as a connoisseurs terminology rather than referring to wares from a certain production area. According to Nigel Wood in Chinese Glazes, London, 1999, p. 87, it appears that "both 'Ge-like' and 'Guan-like' wares could have issued simultaneously from the same kilns - simply showing the natural variations of atmosphere, temperature and cooling that dragon kilns often provide.'   

The present brush washer is exceptional in its elegant and delicately potted form. The glaze is most distinctive, featuring all the attractive qualities of a fine 'Ge' vessel with ash-grey glaze suffused among the dark-grey and russet brown crackles. Tripod lobed brush washers of this type are rare among existing 'Ge' or 'Guan'  vessels, although a very similar piece was sold at Christie's New York, 3rd June 1993, lot 207. Examples of eight-lobed brush washers with no feet are possibly the closest comparable vessels, of which about twenty pieces are preserved in the Palace Museums of  Beijing and Taipei. See four 'Guan' examples included in the Special Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Kuan Ware,  National Palace Museum, Taipei, 1989, pls. 135-138; and one from the collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, included in the exhibition Ju and Kuan Wares, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1952, cat.no. 69, sold in our New York rooms, 9th December, 1983, lot 207.  

For an example of a differently shaped 'Ge' brush washer, see a square-shaped vessel in the Percival David Foundation, London, included in the Foundation's Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares, London, 1999, no. 68; and another from the Muwen Tang collection and included in the Selected  Treasures of Chinese Art, Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat.no. 6, sold in these rooms, 12th November 2003, lot 3.