A RARE JIAOTANXIA ‘GUAN’ WARE ‘LOTUS BUD’ WATERPOT SONG DYNASTY

of lotus bud form, the globular body gently tapering towards the rim and supported on three short cabriole legs, applied overall with a pale grey-green glaze mottled with milky caramel, the feet unglazed, revealing the buff grey body

Sotheby's London, 11th May 1965, lot 17 (£210).
Bluett & Sons Ltd, London, 1965 (£210).
Collection of Roger Pilkington (1928-69), from 1965 (£310).

The waterpot is in good condition except for a circular kiln flaw of 1.8 cm to the middle of the body, now possibly ground/polished. Small areas adjacent to the flaw are also slightly polished. There is also a shallow flake to the body of each foot.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This charming desk object with its pleasant plump fruit shape and the subtle guan glaze so admired in the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), exemplifies to perfection the understated taste of the cultured scholar-officials at the time. As a water vessel, needed when grinding the ink cake, it would have been most unobtrusive on a scholar’s writing table, to be recognised only by connoisseurs as the jewel it is. It would have been used together with a tubular dropper to be dipped in the water, its opening closed with a finger to draw water out, and released onto the ink stone as necessary.

This vessel can be attributed to one of the guan (official) Hangzhou kilns that were established in the Southern Song capital to make ceramics for the court after the move of the Song imperial house to the south in 1127 had precluded access to products of the Northern manufactories, such as the Ru kilns of Baofeng in Henan. The Jiaotanxia (‘Below the Suburban Altar’) kilns, believed to have created vessels such as this for the court, have now tentatively been identified with kiln sites discovered at Wuguishan in the south of Hangzhou.

A number of similar waterpots is known from old Western collections, for example, one from the Ingram collection, included in the important exhibition Mostra d’Arte Cinese/Exhibition of Chinese Art, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 451; others illustrated in George J. Lee, Selected Far Eastern Art in the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven and London, 1970, pl. 313; in Walter Hochstadter, ‘Early Chinese Ceramics in the Buffalo Museum of Science’, Hobbies, vol. 25, no. 5, New York, 1946, pl. 63; and in Mayuyama. Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 1, pl. 467; and three examples were sold in our London rooms, 12th December 1978, lot 179, from the Lindberg collection; 9th June 1992, lot 136; and 14th May 2008, lot 307, from the collection of Dr. Carl Kempe, illustrated in Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 134.

For two rare examples preserved with their tubular droppers see a piece from the collections of Mrs. Walter Sedgwick and later Colonel and Mrs. Carson, sold in our London rooms, 2nd July 1968, lot 109, and 7th June 1994, lot 298; and one from the Eli Lilly collection in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, included in the exhibition Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, 1983, fig. 6.