A superb and rare russet-splashed black-glazed 'partridge feather' bowl, Song dynasty | 宋 鷓鴣斑斗笠盞

Private Collection.

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Reminiscent of the mottles on partridge feathers, the lively russet-brown markings decorating black-glazed tea bowls such as the present piece must have captivated the imagination of Song dynasty (960-1279) literati. The present bowl is a particularly sophisticated example of its type for its asymmetrical yet balanced distribution of brown flecks, which imbue the vessel with a sense of spontaneity as well as harmony. Such abstract patterns of russet splashes on dark-glazed wares were created by many kilns in northern China from around the eleventh century. The irregular markings on these bowls were achieved by either splashing or applying with a brush an iron-rich slip, glaze or pigment.

Two bowls of similar proportions, from the Scheinman Collection, now in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, MA, were included in the Museum’s exhibition Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Cambridge, 1995, cat. nos 38a and b. See also a bowl formerly in the collection of Lord Cunliffe, included in the exhibition Principal Wares of the Song Period from a Private Collection, Eskenazi, London, 2015, cat. no. 23; and another bowl included in the exhibition Ancient Chinese Black Wares from the Collection of Mr and Mrs Yeung Wing Tak, Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1999, later sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 9th October 2020, lot 2.