2009.70: Small Ovoid Jar with Partridge-Feather Mottles

Identification and Creation

Object Number

2009.70

Title

Small Ovoid Jar with Partridge-Feather Mottles

Classification

Vessels

Work Type

vessel

Date

12th century

Places

Creation Place: East Asia, China

Period

Northern Song (960-1127) to Jin (1115-1234) period

Culture

Chinese

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/332041

Physical Descriptions

Medium

Northern black ware of Cizhou type: light gray stoneware with dark brown glaze, the russet markings in overglaze iron oxide

Dimensions

H. 12.7 x Diam. 13.4 cm (5 x 5 1/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History

J.J. Lally & Co., New York (March-April 2009)
Dr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon Collection, San Francisco (1985-2009)
Sotheby's, London, 10 December 1985, lot 149 (1985)
Frederick Knight, London (1972-1985)
Bluett & Sons, London (1972)
Professor Postan and Lady Cynthia Postan, London (1940s-1972)

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky and of the Ralph C. Marcove International Understanding Through Arts and Crafts Foundation, Inc.

Accession Year

2009

Object Number

2009.70

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Permissions

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Descriptions

Description

This ovoid jar sports a lustrous black glaze enlivened with russet splashes. Of thinly potted form, the jar is surmounted by a short, upright neck with an unglazed rim around the wide mouth. (The unglazed lip indicates that the jar originally had a cover, now lost, which would have been fired in place.) The jar is covered inside and out with a lustrous, dark brown glaze that appears black in reflected light. Randomly applied splashes of matte russet-brown slip enliven the dark glaze, the splashes running downward and shading to iridescent green tones at the margins; since Song times, Chinese connoisseurs have termed the type of mottles that embellish this piece "partridge feather decoration." The well-controlled glaze ends in an even line well short of the high, lightly splayed foot, exposing the light gray stoneware body on the lower portion of the piece; the exposed body clay assumed a pale buff skin in firing.

Publication History

• The Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, March 12 to April 4, 2009, auct. cat., J.J. Lally & Co. (New York, NY, 2009), no. 52

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