Silhouettes of Peonies among Greenery
Regina Krahl

The Cizhou kilns, with their type site at Guantai in Hebei, are noted for their conspicuous designs, their inventive methods of decoration as well as their technical innovation. The present vase is a prime example of their enterprising approach to ceramics, which – contrary to other stoneware kilns of the period – based their appeal on bold calligraphic drawings and strong colour contrasts, rather than subtle tones and silken textures. The potters turned even the disadvantage of their grey-firing clays, which required the application of a white slip to render attractive results, into an advantage, as they managed to manipulate the slip in a variety of ways to create different styles of decoration.

To achieve the present design, this vessel must have gone through endless pairs of hands. With its dramatic bulging and contracting silhouette it is admirable already in its potting; it was then slipped, painted, carved, combed, covered with a transparent glaze, fired at high temperature, glazed again in green, and fired again at a lower temperature. The bright leaf-green glaze represents one of the earliest low-fired glazes applied to a high-fired body, which required a second firing, lower than that of the stoneware body. Coloured with copper, it represented one of the rare bright colours available for ceramics at the t.mes , but was rarely employed, probably due to the extra effort it involved.

In black and white, this decoration style became very popular at the Cizhou kilns and appears to be among the earlier styles of painted Cizhou ware, attributed by Qin Dashu, who excavated parts of the Cizhou kiln site, to the late Northern Song (960-1127)/early Jin (1115-1234) period. The style lasted throughout the Jin dynasty, however, and the green glaze on Cizhou wares seems largely to postdate the Song. In both white and green versions, the contrast of the black painted peonies with their delicately incised sgraffito details reserved against a ground of white slip – and here appearing in green – is most effective.

What makes Cizhou wares so approachable is the nonchalant manner of their execution, which seems to bring us much closer to the makers, leaving the production process still visible. Both the black brush painting of peony sprays and the sgraffito carving to render details clearly manifest their quick and skilful execution by the hand of an experienced craftsman. The rapid creation is also evident in the white slip, which was allowed to stop short at the foot, with a single drop running down further.

The present form, style of decoration and design appear to have been a speciality of the Guantai kilns in Hebei province, the most important Cizhou kilns. Very similar fragmentary vases have been recovered from the kiln site, see Guantai Cizhou yaozhi/The Cizhou Kiln Site at Guantai, Beijing, 1997, particularly pl. 70: 1; and Haku to koku no kyōen/Charm of Black and White Ware: Transition of Cizhou Type Wares, Osaka Municipal Museum of Art, Osaka, 2002, cat. no. 11-1 and 11-2. This basic style was also employed to other shapes, see Guantai Cizhou yaozhi 1997, col. pl. 11: 1 left.

Of course, the same design was also produced in black-and-white, saving the additional low-temperature firing; compare fragments of similar vases covered with a transparent glaze only in Guantai Cizhou yaozhi 1997, col. pl. 9: 2; pl. 13: 3 centre; pl. 23: 1 and 2; and p. 123, fig. 52: 1 and 4; and Osaka 2002, cat. no. 71- and 71-2.

A similar green-glazed vase in the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Geng Baochang, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang gu taoci ciliao xuancui [Selection of ancient ceramic material from the Palace Museum], Beijing, 2005, vol. 1, pl. 58, attributed to the Song dynasty; another example is illustrated in John Ayers, The Baur collects ion Geneva: Chinese Ceramics, Geneva, 1968-74, vol. I, pl. A 78; a vase in the Osaka Municipal Museum is published in Osaka 2002, cat. no. 108, and again in Qin Dashu, Mai Putai & Gao Xianping, eds, Xian shi yu ya qi. Taihua Guxuan cang Song Yuan zhenpin/Graces of Song Wares. Treasures from PT collects ion, Beijing, 2019, vol. 1, p. 67, fig. 80: 2, where Qin Dashu discusses Cizhou vases of this type and attributes the Osaka piece to the Jin dynasty; a vase of this type from the collects ion of Gustaf Lindberg was sold twice in these rooms, 12th December 1978, lot 151, and 9th June 2004, lot 164.

A slightly smaller green-glazed vase, very similar in form and design, perhaps executed by the same hand, with the same distinctive detail of the curled-up stem of the peony plants, is in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Tōkyo Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan zuhan mokuroku: Chūgoku tōji hen/Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum: Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo, 1988-90, vol. I, no. 565.

牡丹綠葉相映照
康蕊君

河北觀台磁州窰，紋飾風格鮮明、技巧創新，兼且技術發展匠心獨運。宋代以素淡釉色、瓷質光滑為尚，磁州瓷器則逆流而上，以筆觸揮灑豪邁、顏色對比鮮明見著，可見磁州窰進取求新之意圖，而本品屬其中佳例。磁州窰以灰色土為胎，一般上施白色護胎土以達理想效果，而磁州窰瓷匠則借此機會，以多種不同手法施加護胎土，創製各種紋飾風格。

觀察本瓶，可想像乃由無數匠人傾力巧製，器型出眾，線條起伏有致，其後再施護胎土、上彩、雕刻、復施透明釉、再高溫窰燒、施青釉，最後低溫燒製。本品釉色如葉綠，乃高溫窰燒成胚後再施釉、低溫燒製而成之最早期品類之一，以銅料著色，乃當時最罕見之鮮色瓷釉之一，或因耗工之故而甚為罕見。

如此裝飾風格，有黑白，亦有黑青。黑白之作例後來發展為磁州窰流行之款式，屬於較早期之繪花磁州瓷。發掘部份磁州窰址之學者秦大樹，斷代此款屬北宋晚期或金初。此裝飾風格流行於金朝，而黑青者則主要製於宋代之後。不論黑白或黑青，黑彩牡丹與細緻剔刻對比，雕花之下，或為白色護胎土，或為青釉，兩者效果均極理想。

磁州瓷風格平實而無匠氣，觀賞瓷器，可想像藝匠製器情境。無論是以黑彩描繪纏枝牡丹、或是雕刻劃紋飾，均可見藝匠運筆、用刀之迅速靈巧。本器瓷胚之上施白色護胎土，近足處仍可見瓷胚，一點白土更滴流而下，亦見瓷匠手法明快，揮灑自如。

河北觀台，乃最重要之磁州窰所在地，而本品器型、裝飾風格以及紋飾均具觀台特色。可比較相近破片數例，出土自觀台磁州窰遺址，參考《觀台磁州窰址》，北京， 1997年，圖版70: 1尤具參考價值；另比數例，《白と黒の競演-中国・磁州窯系陶器の世界》，大阪市立美術館，大阪，2002年，編號11-1及11-2。本品風格亦可見於其他器型，參考《觀台磁州窰址》，1997年，彩色圖版11: 1左。

相同紋飾，亦見於黑白作例，無需後加低溫窰燒，比較破片瓶例，僅罩施透明釉，錄於《觀台磁州窰址》，1997年，彩色圖版9: 2；圖版13: 3（中）；圖版23: 1及2；及頁123，圖52: 1及4；亦見於大阪2002年，編號71- 及71-2。

北京故宮博物院收藏一青釉例，圖見耿寶昌編，《故宮博物院藏古陶瓷資料選萃》，北京, 2005年，卷1，圖版 58，斷代宋朝； 另一例見於 John Ayers，《The Baur collects ion Geneva: Chinese Ceramics》，日內瓦，1968-74年，卷I，圖版A 78；
大阪市立美術館收藏一瓶例，2002 年出版於大阪，編號108；亦見秦大樹、高憲平編，《閒事與雅器：泰華古軒藏宋元珍品》，北京，2019年，卷 1，頁67，圖80：2，秦大叔論述此類磁州瓶，並斷代大阪作例為金朝製；另比一例，出自Gustaf Lindberg 收藏，兩度售於倫敦蘇富比，先後為 1978 年 12 月 12 日，編號 151 及 2004 年 6 月 9 日， 編號 164 。

再比一青釉例，尺寸較小，器型與紋飾相近，或出自同一藝匠，牡丹花枝上卷之獨特細節與本品相同現藏於東京國立博物館，圖見《東京國立博物館圖版目錄：中國古陶磁篇》，東京，1988-90年，卷I，編號565。