A black-glazed 'ribbed' handled jar, Northern Song / Jin dynasty

Sotheby's New York, 30th March 2006, lot 46.

The attractive ribs adorning this jar were carefully applied in slip onto the surface of the vessel before the application of glaze. During firing, the glaze pulled away from the ribs, resulting in a striking contrast of delicate white lines emerging from a glossy black ground. A slightly larger example, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Janos Szekeres, was included in the exhibition Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell and Partridge Feathers, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 1995, cat. no. 61, where it is noted that these ribs were first used on ceramics during the Tang dynasty in imitation of Tang lacquer and silver, and emerged as a decorative category by the 12th century. Another example was included in the exhibition Heaven and Earth Seen Within, New Orleans Museum of Art, New Orleans, 2000, cat. no. 30; another, from the collection of Frederick Mayer, was sold at Christie’s London, 24th June 1974, lot 51. See also an example in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, included in the Museum’s exhibition Cizhou Ware of China – Its Charm and Taste, Tokyo, 2005, cat. no. 30; and another, from the collection of Capt. Dugald Malcolm and now in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, Stockholm, 1970, pl. 53k. Similar shards have been excavated at a number of kiln sites in Shandong, Hebei and Henan provinces, for example, see one from the National Museum of History, Taipei, published in The Ancient Kilns of Henan Province, Taipei, 2002, pl. 255.

The dating of this lot is consistent with the results of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. P205f19.

本拍品經牛津熱釋光檢測編號P205f19，結果與其斷代相符。