Tea bowl with traces of painted gold decoration on the interior

Clay: coarse buff stoneware.
Glaze: thick, black with brown areas.
Decoration: traces of former painting in gold inside; design includes four characters: Fu-hai-shou-shan.

Historical period(s)
Southern Song dynasty, 12th-13th century
Medium
Stoneware with iron glaze and gold pigment
Style
Yulinding ware
Dimensions
H x W: 5.5 x 11 cm (2 3/16 x 4 5/16 in)
Geography
China, Fujian province, Yulinding kilns
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1956.24
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Tea bowl

Keywords
China, Southern Song dynasty (1127 - 1279), stoneware, tea, Yulinding ware
Provenance

To 1956
Howard Hollis & Company, Cleveland, Ohio. [1]

From 1956
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Howard Hollis & Company, Cleveland, Ohio. [2]

Notes:

[1] Curatorial Remark 1 in the object record.

[2] See note 1.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Howard Hollis and Company

Description

Clay: coarse buff stoneware.
Glaze: thick, black with brown areas.
Decoration: traces of former painting in gold inside; design includes four characters: Fu-hai-shou-shan.

Label

Although now mostly worn away, the decoration in gold inside this tea bowl is of four flowers and parallel lines.  The center of each flower contains a Chinese character; together the words are an abbreviation for the homily "May you live as long as South Mountain and may your blessings be as great as the Eastern Sea."  This type of bowl formerly was thought to be Jizhou ware but is now identified with the Yulinding kilns in northern Fujian prodince.

Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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