Yaozhou stoneware saucer with wave pattern
China, Northern Song dynasty, 960 – 1127
Diameter: 5 inches, 12.8 cm
Height: 7/8 inch, 2.2 cm
A small stoneware shallow saucer of circular form with sharply upturned rim, the sides supported on a recessed circular base with no foot. The interior of the saucer is decorated with carved and combed waves. The exterior of the bowl is plain. The saucer is covered in a lustrous, translucent olive-green glaze, which pools to a slightly darker tint in the recesses. The base and surrounding area are unglazed, revealing the fine grey stoneware, which has a yellowish-buff tone.
Using combs to decorate pottery vessels is a technique that already existed in the Neolithic period. During the Song dynasty, the comb pattern developed further to present water waves, which was first applied to ding wares. The application of combed wave pattern in yaozhou wares proves that it was common to learn new designs from other kilns. [1] There are few other saucers, closely comparable in the combed wave pattern, the shape and the dimensions, known to our knowledge. One was unearthed from the Jinyu village, Suining city in Sichuan province and is now in the collection of the Suining City Museum. [2] Three other examples are respectively in the collection of the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, [3] the Meiyintang collection [4] and Victoria and Albert Museum (fig.1). [5]
Provenance: private collection, Singapore
- Pengzhou Shi bo wu guan, Song yu – Sichuan jiao cang wen wu ji cui, Zhongguo she hui ke xue chu ban she, Beijing, 2006, p. 41
- Ibid, p. 41
- Koyama, Fujio, Chūgoku tōji, Idemitsu Bijutsukan, Tokyo, 1970, no. 449
- Krahl, R. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. One, Azimuth Editions, London, 1994, no. 420, p. 233
- Victoria and Albert Museum online collection archive, no. C.1388-1924
