NORTHERN SONG 11th or 12th Century Northern Blackware
A Northern Song Blackware Bowl of Cizhou Type, Possibly from Yuzhou or Henan Province. The Black Glaze has a White Slip to the Notched Rim. The Lower Part of the Bowl has a Coffee Coloured Glaze.
SOLD
- Condition
- Two large fine cracks c.60 mm and 28 mm and four small shallow rim chips.
- Size
- Diameter : 13 cm (5 1/8 inches). Height : 6.3 cm (2 1/2 inches)
- Provenance
- N/A
- Stock number
- 21193
Photos
Information
The iron-oxide glaze has been applied in two layers, the first a relatively thin coffee coloured glaze was then followed by a rich deep black glaze. This Song stoneware bowl has a white rim, this was achieved by wiping the black glaze from the rim and then replacing it with white slip and applying a transparent glaze. During the Song Dynasty (960-1279) some ceramics were fired on the rim, this meant the rim couldn't have glaze on it during the firing process, so the rough unglazed rim would then be bound in metal. Current thinking about ceramics of this period with white slipped rims is that they might be imitating the metal rims found on some ceramics. However, blackwares don't seam to have metal rims added and it might just be that the white slipped rims look very striking against the lustrous black glaze.
For a Northern Song Blackware Zun with a similar white slip rim see : Chinese Glazes, Their Origins, Chemistry and Recreation (Nigel Wood, A & C Black, London, 1999) page 142.
For two Northern Song Cizhou type bowl with a white slip rim see : : Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Chinese Brown And Black Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400 (Robert D. Mowry, Harvard University Art Museum Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996). Page 132 plate 31 and page 133 plate 32.