2004.124: Small, Steep-Sided Bowl with Lightly Flaring Lip and Decoration of Fish Swimming in Rolling Waves around a Dragon
VesselsGallery Text
Chinese ceramic wares made in Song dynasty (960–1279) court taste are esteemed for their refined forms, subtle decoration, and soft, muted glaze colors. Buoyed by national peace, economic prosperity, and the rise of a highly educated civil official class, local ceramics industries throughout China began to thrive and innovate at unprecedented levels.
Kilns seeking to supply household wares to their highly cultured clientele often created pieces that were reminiscent of other precious items. For example, northern Ding wares, with their decorative designs and thin bodies, were often compared to silverwork, while the thick green glazes coating southern Longquan wares brought carved jades to mind. Although natural forms were popular, like those inspired by flower blossoms, government officials, who had attained their positions through long study of ancient texts and history, were especially drawn to ceramics that resembled the bronzes and jades of antiquity. Courtly taste in China would change drastically after the Song, shifting toward brightly decorated blue-and-white porcelains, invented at Jingdezhen in the fourteenth century and manufactured at the same kilns that produced the delicate blue-tinged white wares known as qingbai.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 2004.124
- Title
- Small, Steep-Sided Bowl with Lightly Flaring Lip and Decoration of Fish Swimming in Rolling Waves around a Dragon
- Classification
- Vessels
- Work Type
- vessel
- Date
- 12th-early 13th century
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, China, Shaanxi province, Tongchuan
- Period
- Jin dynasty, 1115-1234
- Culture
- Chinese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/176657
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Yaozhou ware: light gray stoneware with celadon glaze over molded decoration, the exterior with carved vertical lines suggesting petals. From the Yaozhou kilns at Tongchuan, Shaanxi province.
- Dimensions
- H. 4.2 x Diam. 10.3 cm (1 5/8 x 4 1/16 in.)
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
- Shirley Nye, New York (by 2004), gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2004.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Richard B. Nye in memory of Shirley Nye
- Accession Year
- 2004
- Object Number
- 2004.124
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
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Exhibition History
- 32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/13/2020
Verification Level
This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu