Song Qingbai Ware Bowl
A Song dynasty Qingbai porcelain bowl 12th or 13th Century. The shallow form is very freely carved and combed with an abstract depiction of clouds. The base is thickly potted with a very shallow footrim, the center of the unglazed based has a single character applied in black ink. This mark is very likely to have been added when the bowl was made or shortly after and perhaps denotes the merchant the piece was destined for.
SOLD
- Condition
- In very good condition, a minute glaze frits, some minor wear to the well. The rim and surrounding area is slightly stained .
- Size
- Diameter : 15.3 cm (6 inches).
- Provenance
- N/A
- Stock number
- 24521
Photos
Information
Qingbai Ware :
The earliest known qingbai wares were produced in Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province around the late 10th century and are characterised by faint pale-blue glazes on low, wide forms. Qingbai continued to be enormously popular and highly produced throughout the Song dynasty (960-1279) and was prevalent in the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), but slackened during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) until being replaced by tianbai, ‘sweet white’ ware. The initial forms of qingbai were simple bowls and dishes, but by the mid-Northern Song the forms had advanced to include a wide variety of objects used for daily life such as ewers, boxes, incense burners, granary models, vases, jars, sculptures, cups, cupstands, water droppers, lamps, grave wares, and tools for writing and painting. The precedent for the majority of these forms is found in earlier metalwork and lacquer and Rawson has suggested that the imitation of silver was the primary force behind the production of white wares, including qingbai.