Yaozhou stoneware bowl with lotus-petal design

A stoneware deep bowl, supported on a short, straight foot, the thinly potted, rounded sides terminating in a slightly everted rim. The exterior of the bowl is carved with three tiers of overlapping, sharply pointed lotus leaves. The bowl is completely covered in a translucent olive-green glaze, which pools to a slightly darker tint in the recesses.  The base and footrim are covered in a thinner glaze, which is burnt to a pale brown tone.

The kilns that produced the striking and sophisticated yaozhou wares were mostly situated around Huangbao and Chenlu in present-day Tongquan county, Shaanxi province in northern China.  The subtle design of lotus petals on the exterior of this bowl was carefully carved into the clay before firing; a different and more time-consuming technique than the moulding generally used on longquan lotus bowls. A Yaozhou bowl with a similar lotus-petal design is in the Qing Court collection at the Palace Museum in Beijing.1  Another example from the Seligman bequest is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.2

Provenance:
Ben Janssens Oriental Art, February 2008
Private Collection, UK

1    Palace Museum, Beijing Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum Vol. 32, Hong Kong, 1996, no. 111, p. 125
2    Kerr, R. Song Dynasty Ceramics, Victoria and Albert Museum Far Eastern Series, London 2004, nos. 58 and 58a (left), p. 61

宋/耀州窑莲瓣纹盌

此盌周身刻以分明的莲瓣纹饰，莲瓣中间位置微微起楞，具有一定的浅浮雕质感。釉面状态良好，釉色为耀州窑瓷器经典的橄榄绿色。此类盌制作于陕西铜川黄堡镇，最早见于晚唐五代，续烧至北宋中期。