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Lot Essay
Hirota Masushige (aka Fukosai) was the founder of the preeminent art gallery Kochukyo in Tokyo in 1924.
This rare and boldly carved jar belongs to a small group of high-quality, 10th-century northern white wares that display strong influence of the Dingzhou kilns in Hebei province. A jar of very similar form and size, but with less crisp rendering of the petal- relief decoration, found in 1992 at the Liao dynasty kiln site at Longquanwu, approximately seventeen miles north of Beijing, is illustrated by Zhang Bai in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China, Beijing, 2008, p. 56, no. 56. The important kiln site of Longuanwu has also been suggested by William Watson to be the possible source of the celebrated phoenix-head bottle with carved peony scroll and overlapping petal decoration in the British Museum, London. See W. Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, New York, 1984, p. 229, no. 273. Also illustrated, p. 238, no. 228, is a white stoneware ewer with similar carved petal decoration around the canted shoulder, which is dated 10th-early 11th century and attributed to the Liaoyanggangcun kiln in Liaoning province.
Very similar petal-relief decoration to that on the present jar can also be seen on a covered jar with canted shoulders, but of taller form, illustrated by Hin-Cheung Lovell in Ting Yao and Related White Wares in the Percival David Foundation, London, 1964, pl. XI, no. 193, where the author suggests the piece may perhaps have been made at a northern celadon kiln in Shensi or Honan province.
This rare and boldly carved jar belongs to a small group of high-quality, 10th-century northern white wares that display strong influence of the Dingzhou kilns in Hebei province. A jar of very similar form and size, but with less crisp rendering of the petal- relief decoration, found in 1992 at the Liao dynasty kiln site at Longquanwu, approximately seventeen miles north of Beijing, is illustrated by Zhang Bai in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China, Beijing, 2008, p. 56, no. 56. The important kiln site of Longuanwu has also been suggested by William Watson to be the possible source of the celebrated phoenix-head bottle with carved peony scroll and overlapping petal decoration in the British Museum, London. See W. Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, New York, 1984, p. 229, no. 273. Also illustrated, p. 238, no. 228, is a white stoneware ewer with similar carved petal decoration around the canted shoulder, which is dated 10th-early 11th century and attributed to the Liaoyanggangcun kiln in Liaoning province.
Very similar petal-relief decoration to that on the present jar can also be seen on a covered jar with canted shoulders, but of taller form, illustrated by Hin-Cheung Lovell in Ting Yao and Related White Wares in the Percival David Foundation, London, 1964, pl. XI, no. 193, where the author suggests the piece may perhaps have been made at a northern celadon kiln in Shensi or Honan province.