The Schoenlicht ‘Partridge Feather’ Vase
Regina Krahl

Black wares experienced the peak of their popularity in and around the Song dynasty (960-1279) and the Schoenlicht vase is an iconic example of this ceramic type. Large and impressive vases of black-glazed stoneware, as superbly shaped, glazed and decorated as the present piece, are extremely rare. Black-glazed ceramics, little appreciated prior to the Song, became celebrated with the interest in black tea bowls, which from the Northern Song period (960-1127) onwards found favour even with Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-1125), one of China’s greatest connoisseurs. While many kilns both in north and south China began to produce black bowls and other minor black-glazed vessels, with or without contrasting markings, very few developed well-made, majestic pieces such as this vase, and the Schoenlicht black vase is a top example of this category.

It may well have been due to this imperial appreciation that black stonewares with their more earthy and rustic style than contemporary white and green wares, suddenly received attention. As Patricia Buckley Ebrey writes about Emperor Huizong (Accumulating Culture. The collects ions of Emperor Huizong, Seattle and London, 2008, p. 344), “he came to the throne believing that the court often over-decorated buildings. He complained that one of the last buildings built during Zhezong’s [his predecessor’s] reigns looked as gaudy as jewelry. Later, when he commissioned buildings himself, he insisted on simpler styles”, a predilection that did not remain restricted to architecture.

A taste for ceramic designs in form of seemingly natural markings, reminiscent of feathers or furs, developed early in the Song dynasty. According to Robert D. Mowry (Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, Mass., 1996, p. 32), the term zhegu ban, ‘partridge-feather mottles’, was already in use by the 10th century. While its precise meaning at the t.mes is not known, since it was first used to describe patterns on southern black tea bowls, it is now mainly used to denominate the rust-red speckling on northern black wares, such as seen here.

The distinctive, well-proportioned shape of this vase made it practical to hold by its neck for pouring, the rolled-over rim helped to avoid dripping, and the splayed foot gave it good stability. In contemporary wall paintings, vases holding flowers tend to have a narrower neck and rim, jars storing wine have higher shoulders, closer to the meiping shape. The present form, obviously designed to be used without a cover, may have served as an occasional vessel near the table to provide fresh water, whether to brew tea, to dilute wine, or for ablutions. The shape is known also from other exquisite wares of Cizhou type, for example, with painted or sgraffito designs on a white ground, see Hasebe Gakuji, ed., Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12: Sō/Sung Dynasty, Tokyo, 1977, pls 228-230.

Only two closely comparable examples appear to be recorded, one illustrated in Warren E. Cox, The Book of Pottery and Porcelain, New York, 1944, vol. I, pl. 54 top left, from the collects ion of the author and Mrs C.P. Wilson; the other in the Museum of East Asian Art, Berlin, included in the exhibition Chinesische und Japanische Kunst. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst, Kyoto, 1991, p. 59, pl. 61. A considerably smaller vase in a private collects ion is illustrated in Satō Masahiko, Chinese Ceramics. A Short History, New York and Tokyo, 1981, pl. 195; and two other smaller vases of similar type were sold in our New York rooms, 7th February 1974, lot 156, and in these rooms, 9th June 2004, lot 163, respectively.

While closely related vessels are rare, in its grandeur and importance this vase can be compared to a few outstanding meiping vases with similar ‘partridge-feather’ patterning: see, for example, a vase in the Art Institute of Chicago, included in the exhibition Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers, op.cit., cat. no. 35, where Mowry attributes it to the 11th or early 12th century; the body of that vase, visible at the foot, appears to be of the same tight grey stoneware with dark iron specks as that of the present piece. Compare also a vase of squat (often called ‘truncated’) meiping shape in the Itsuō Art Museum, Ikeda, included in the exhibition Sō Gen no bijutsu [The art of Song and Yuan], Osaka Municipal Art Museum, Osaka, 1978, cat. no. 1-202; or two others in private Japanese collects ions, one of squat, the other of taller meiping form, illustrated in Hasebe Gakuji, ed., Tōki zenshū. 13: Sō no Jishūyō [Complete works on ceramics. 13: Song Cizhou ware], Tokyo, 1966, col. pl. 8 and pl. 63.

The distinguished history of this vase can be traced in the West to the 1930s. Alfred Schoenlicht, (1876-1955) of Nijkerk and The Hague, Holland, and later New York, was a German-born banker, who had worked in China for Blohm & Voss, a German ship building and engineering company, as well as in private banking. He was an important collects or of Chinese ceramics and other works of art, who contributed to the Ausstellung chinesischer Kunst, Preußische Akademie der Künste, Berlin, 1929, the International Exhibition of Chinese Art at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1935/6, as well as to exhibitions in Paris and Amsterdam, and before World War II lent his collects ion to the Boston Museum of Replica Handbags s. Since the mid-1940s he was a member of the Oriental Ceramic Society of London. The t.mes s of London reported about Replica Shoes ’s sale of his collects ion shortly after his death, in 1955: “Invariably any auction of well known Chinese ceramics produces an air of inscrutability among bidders. There was an international atmosphere such as this at Replica Shoes ’s yesterday at the sale, conducted by Mr A.J.B. Kiddell, of important Chinese ceramics which had formed the collects ion of Alfred Schoenlicht. Many of the pieces at this sale were especially well-known, since they are illustrated in H.F.E. Visser’s Asiatic Art [in Private collects ions in Holland and Belgium] (1948). Mr Visser and Mrs Schoenlicht were both present at the sale, which brought a total of £ 27,400.” (Roy Davids and Dominic Jellinek, Provenance. collects ors, Dealers and Scholars: Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America, Great Haseley, 2011, p. 393).

The buyer in the Schoenlicht sale was a person named Cassirer, probably Dr Erich (Eric) Cassirer (1881-1963), a German philosopher and later art dealer, whose gallery in London specialised in Chinese and Egyptian art. He came from a notable Jewish family based in Berlin, that included several famous members, such as the philosopher Ernst Cassirer, the doctor and psychiatrist Richard Cassirer, the musician and writer Fritz Cassirer, and the publishers, art dealers and patrons Bruno and Paul Cassirer. He was a member of the Oriental Ceramic Society of London since the early 1950s.

吉光片羽： Schoenlicht珍藏黑釉鐵鏽飛斑卷口瓶
康蕊君

黑釉瓷器，盛行於宋代，前朝莫及。 本品出自Schoenlicht珍藏，乃此類型瓷器之典範，無論器型、釉色以及紋飾皆堪稱卓絕，極為珍罕。宋代之前，黑釉瓷並不流行，而北宋年間，黑茶盞蔚然成風，黑釉瓷因而盛行。宋徽宗鑑賞藝文學養精深，亦對黑茶盞加以青睞 。黑釉盞及其他黑釉瓷製於北方及南方各窰，或帶紋飾，或光素無紋，貴麗如本瓶者則甚罕見，實屬其中佳例。

較之同期白釉、青釉瓷器，黑釉器更為樸雅，其之突然盛行，或因天子青睞。Patricia Buckley Ebrey著述，哲宗崩後，徽宗繼位，徽宗不喜宮廷裝飾過度繁縟，更言哲宗所建宮殿過份俗豔。此後，凡奉徽宗之命所築樓宇宮殿，皆求素雅。（《Accumulating Culture. The collects ion of Emperor Huizong》，西雅圖及倫敦，2008年，頁344。）然徽宗好雅，非僅限於建築營造。

模仿鳥羽、兔毫等自然紋飾之瓷器，早在宋初已見發展。據 Robert D. Mowry (《Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown-and Black-Glazed Ceramics,400-1400》，哈佛大學藝術博物館，劍橋，麻省，1996年，頁32) 「鷓鴣斑」一詞，十世紀時已出現，當時意指為何，此刻尚未清晰，但可知「鷓鴣斑」首先用於描述南方黑茶盞紋飾，現時則主要用於形容北方黑釉瓷器上銹紅色斑點，本品器身斑紋，亦可稱為鷓鴣斑。

本瓶造型獨特、比例勻稱，便於傾倒酒水或茶湯時手握瓶頸，撇口可防滴漏，瓶足外翻使其加倍穩固。參考宋畫，可見花瓶瓶頸及口沿多數較細，酒瓶則瓶肩較高，更近梅瓶器型。本品器型顯然為無蓋設計，或置於桌上為盛水瓶，供沏茶、稀釋酒液或沐浴之用。本瓶器型，亦見於其他磁州窰瓷器，器身白地，或繪紋飾、或褐彩剔紋，參考長谷部樂爾，《世界陶磁全集》，卷12：宋，東京，1977 年，圖版228-230。

現時記載僅兩近例，其一圖見Warren E. Cox，《The Book of Pottery and Porcelain》，紐約，1944年，上，圖版54，左上，出自Cox伉儷收藏； 另一例現藏於柏林東亞藝術博物館，曾展於《Chinesische und Japanische Kunst. Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst,》，京都，1991年，頁59，圖版61。另比一例，尺寸較小，出自私人收藏，圖見佐藤真彥，《Chinese Ceramics. A Short History》，紐約及東京，1981年，圖版195；再比兩例，其一售於紐約蘇富比1974年2月7日，編號156，其二售於倫敦蘇富比2004年6月9日，編號 163。

本品近例雖罕，然可比數件鷓鴣斑梅瓶作例，其瑰麗及重要程度可與本品媲美：一例現藏於芝加哥美術學院，曾展於《Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers》，出處同上，編號35，Mowry斷代十一世紀或十二世紀初期，從近足露胚處可見胎土與本品相類，同為灰胎土、帶深色鐵班。另比一矮梅瓶例，現藏於日本池田市逸翁美術館，曾展於《中國美術展シリーズ 宋元の美術》，大阪市立美術館，大阪，1978年，編號1-202；另比兩例，出自日本私人收藏，其一為矮梅瓶，其二為梅瓶，圖見長谷部樂爾編，《陶器全集，13: 宋の磁州窯》，東京，1966年，彩色圖版8及圖版63。

本瓶由西方私人藏家遞藏，來源可溯至1930 年代 。銀行家Alfred Schoenlicht（1876-1955）出生於德國，曾居荷蘭奈克爾克及海牙，後移居紐約，曾在中國工作，任職德國造船和工程公司 Blohm & Voss 以及私人銀行等。他是中國瓷器和藝術品的重要收藏家，藏品曾展於1929年柏林Preußische Akademie der Künste《Ausstellung chinesischer Kunst》（普魯士藝術學院《中國藝術展》）、1935/6年倫敦皇家藝術學院中國藝術國際展，以及在巴黎和阿姆斯特丹的展覽，並在二戰之前借展予波士頓美術博物館。Schoenlicht自 1940 年代中期開始加入倫敦東方陶瓷學會，1955 年，倫敦《泰晤士報》報導了蘇富比在Schoenlicht身後拍賣其珍藏：「著名中國瓷器拍賣總是帶著神秘莫測之感，讓競投者投入其中。昨天蘇富比拍賣會由A.J.B. Kiddell擔任拍賣官，呈獻Alfred Schoenlicht收藏的重要中國瓷器，拍品當中不乏顯赫有名者，載於H.F.E. Visser著作之《Asiatic Art [in Private collects ions in Holland and Belgium] 》(1948年)。Visser 先生和 Schoenlicht 夫人均有出席拍賣會，總成績額為 27,400 英鎊。」（Roy Davids 和 Dominic Jellinek，《Provenance. collects ors, Dealers and Scholars: Chinese Ceramics in Britain and America》，大哈斯雷，2011 年，第 393 頁）。

於Schoenlicht拍賣會上奪標著姓Cassirer，或為Erich (Eric) Cassirer 博士（1881-1963年）；Cassirer 博士乃德國哲學家，後投身藝術經營，其倫敦藝廊專營中國和埃及藝術。他出身柏林，系當地猶太名門之後，家族成員包括哲學家Ernst Cassi、醫生兼精神病學家Richard Cassirer、音樂家兼作家Fritz Cassirer以及出版商、藝術商兼贊助人Bruno及Paul Cassirer。1950年代初，Erich Cassirer加入倫敦東方陶瓷學會。