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A porcelain bowl with a pale blue-green glaze. It has a small foot and the walls jut outward. The inside of the walls have widely-spaced white lines that meet the center to small indents around the lip.

A porcelain bowl with a pale blue-green glaze that stands upright on a grey background. It has a small foot and the walls jut diagonally outward. The walls are very thin and straight. The inside of the walls have widely-spaced white lines that meet the center to small indents around the lip.

Gallery 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
1999.109
Title
Small Circular, Conical Bowl with Notched Rim
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
11th-early 12th century
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China, Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen
Period
Song dynasty, Northern Song period, 960-1127
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/190930

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Qingbai ware: porcelain with pale sky-blue glaze over decoration trailed in white slip
Technique
Qingbai
Dimensions
H. 3.9 x Diam. 12 cm (1 9/16 x 4 3/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 1999], sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1999.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year
1999
Object Number
1999.109
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
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Exhibition History

  • A Decade of Collecting: Asian Acquisitions 1990-1999, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 03/11/2000 - 11/05/2000
  • Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Paintings from China, Korea, and Japan, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/25/2000 - 08/26/2001
  • Plum, Orchid, Chrysanthemum, and Bamboo: Botanical Motifs and Symbols in East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 07/06/2002 - 01/05/2003
  • Rocks, Mountains, Landscapes and Gardens: The Essence of East Asian Painting ('04), Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 01/31/2004 - 08/01/2004
  • A Compelling Legacy: Masterworks of East Asian Painting, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 08/24/2004 - 03/20/2005
  • Forging the New: East Asian Painting in the Twentieth Century, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/03/2005 - 10/16/2005
  • Downtime, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/28/2007 - 04/20/2008
  • Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 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