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Lot Essay
Floral scroll designs were popular motifs on Northern Song Yaozhou wares. Early on, such designs were executed by a labor-intensive carving technique. The designs were carved at an angle, and as the glaze pooled in the recesses it produced an almost dichromatic effect, giving a sense of depth to the design. Later, impressed or molded techniques were introduced at the Yaozhou kilns, and the molded designs, such as that on the present bowl, achieved an effect similar to carved decoration and greatly improved the efficiency of production.
A pottery mold of this particular design is in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, and is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji (Compendium of Chinese Ceramics), vol. 10: Yaozhou ware, Tokyo, 1985, no. 72. A smaller Yaozhou celadon bowl with a closely related design, in the Tokyo National Museum, is illustrated in The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Tokyo, 1997, p.46, no. 58.
A pottery mold of this particular design is in the collection of the Shanghai Museum, and is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji (Compendium of Chinese Ceramics), vol. 10: Yaozhou ware, Tokyo, 1985, no. 72. A smaller Yaozhou celadon bowl with a closely related design, in the Tokyo National Museum, is illustrated in The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Tokyo, 1997, p.46, no. 58.