Jizhou ware
(China)
- Title
- Tea bowl with slip design of plum blossom
- Other titles:
- Tea bowl with slip design of prunus blossom
- Place of origin
-
Jiangxi Province →
China
- Period
- Song dynasty 960 - 1279 → China
- Year
- circa 12th century
- Media category
- Ceramic
- Materials used
- stoneware with a dark brown glaze and slip painted decoration
- Dimensions
-
5.0 x 11.1cm
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Gift of Graham E. Fraser 1988
- Accession number
- 519.1988
- Location
- Lower Asian gallery
- Further information
The flowering plum blossom first appeared in the art of the Song dynasty in the twelfth century and has maintained its popularity as a motif in poetry, painting and the decorative arts to the present day. The emblem of winter, it appears with the peony, lotus and chrysanthemum to symbolise the four seasons. The plum blossom and moon form a striking design on this Jizhou ware teabowl produced in Jiangxi province in response to the local Song dynasty tea cult and its aesthetic preference for drinking pale green tea out of dark glazed bowls. The patronage of local scholar officials inspired Jizhou potters to decorate their ceramics using a variety of techniques. The simple, spontaneous brushwork of this piece is distinct from that of other locales around China. It is a brilliant interpretation of the early association of plum and moon.
'Asian Art', AGNSW Collections, 1994, pg. 194.
- Bibliography (3)
-
Ewen McDonald (Australia) (Editor), AGNSW Collection Sydney, Domain, 1994, 194 (colour illus.).
'Early Chinese Art', pg. 18-29., Asian Collection Handbook, Art Gallery of New South Wales 1990, 1990, 28 (colour illus.).
'Early Ceramics', The Asian Collections Art Gallery of New South Wales 2003, 2003, 106 (colour illus.).
