We acknowledge the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, the traditional custodians of the Country on which the Art Gallery of NSW stands.

Title

Tea bowl

circa 12th century

Artist

Jizhou ware

China

  • Details

    Other Title
    Tea bowl with resist design
    Place where the work was made
    Jiangxi Province China
    Period
    Southern Song 1127 - 1279 Song dynasty 960 - 1279 → China
    Date
    circa 12th century
    Media category
    Ceramic
    Materials used
    stoneware with resist design
    Dimensions
    5.3 x 10.3 cm
    Signature & date

    Not signed. Not dated.

    Credit
    Gift of Graham E. Fraser 1988
    Location
    Not on display
    Accession number
    520.1988
    Copyright

    Reproduction requests

    Artist information
    Jizhou ware

    Works in the collection

    3

    Share
  • About

    The imperial court was forced to leave its capital at Kaifeng and flee south to Hangzhou in 1126. Among the southern kilns that were imposed upon to increase and improve production under the new patronage of the Southern Song court were those of Jian in Fujian province and Jizhou in Jiangxi province. These two centres were almost exclusively concerned with the production of tea bowls. The popularity of their bowls was a response to the rise of the tea cult and an aesthetic preference for drinking pale tea out of dark glazed bowls. The motif of the plum blossom appears in the art of Song dynasty China from the 1100s, with poets, court painters and craftspeople delighting in its transient beauty.

    Such Jizhou ware glaze transmutations as 'partridge feather' and 'tortoise shell' were admired by the literati and Chan Buddhist monks. A Jizhou innovation was the use of cut-out paper patterns for reserve designs.

    'Jizhou ware', The Asian Collections, AGNSW, 2003, pg.106.

  • Places

    Where the work was made

    Jiangxi Province

  • Exhibition history

    Shown in 1 exhibition

    • Glorious, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 27 May 2017–06 Jan 2019

  • Bibliography

    Referenced in 2 publications

Other works by Jizhou ware