Ding ware bottle

Vase of truncated bottle shape with flat base.
Clay: fine grained white stoneware.
Glaze: transparent, glossy.
Decoration: peony scrolls in brown slip with incised details.

Historical period(s)
Northern Song dynasty, 11th-early 12th century
Medium
Porcelain with iron pigment under transparent ivory-toned glaze
Style
Ding ware
Dimensions
H x Diam: 16.3 x 16.6 cm (6 7/16 x 6 9/16 in)
Geography
China, Hebei Province, Ding kilns
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1959.6
On View Location
Freer Gallery 15: Setting the Bar: Arts of the Song Dynasty
Classification(s)
Ceramic, Vessel
Type

Bottle

Keywords
China, Ding ware, Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127), peony, porcelain
Provenance

From at least 1950 to 1959
F. Low-Beer & Co., New York, N.Y., from at least December 1950 [1]

From 1959
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Fritz Low-Beer (1906-1976) on April 20, 1959 [2]

Notes:

[1] Fritz Low-Beer informed Archibald G. Wenley, Director of the Freer Gallery that he was in the possession of the bottle in a letter, dated December 6, 1950, copy in object file. The bottle was shipped to the Freer Gallery of Art for acquisition consideration on June 6, 1952, and subsequently it was included on “List of Objects Contemplated for Purchase by the Freer Gallery of Art,” November 1, 1955. It was listed in the document as “Pottery jar, Chinese, Ting yao.” The location of Fritz Low-Beer’s company was noted in the document as New York. The collector and dealer Fritz Low-Beer had co-owned with Walter Hochstadter a gallery in New York in the 1940s, however, by the time the transaction took place he operated independently and resided in Rome.

[2] See Fritz Low-Beer’s invoice, dated to April 20, 1959, copy in object file.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Fritz Low-Beer 1906-1976

Description

Vase of truncated bottle shape with flat base.
Clay: fine grained white stoneware.
Glaze: transparent, glossy.
Decoration: peony scrolls in brown slip with incised details.

Published References
  • Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. 12 vols., Tokyo. vol. 10, pl. 26.
  • Mayuyama Junkichi. Obei shuzo chugoku toji zuroku [Chinese Ceramics in the West]. Tokyo. pl. 30.
  • Ch'en Wanli. Sung-tai pei-fang min-chien tz'u ch'i [Northern "Popular" Wares of the Sung Dynasty]. Peking. pl. 7.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 93, vol. 1: p. 174.
  • Jean Gordon Lee. A Slip-Decorated Ting Pillow in the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Some Related Pieces. vol. 12, nos.1-2, June-December 1960. p. 15, pl. 12.
  • kawashima Tomoyuki. Arishihi no Mayuyama Jinkichi shi, Mayuyama Ryusendo de no rekuchaa kara [Days in the Life of Mayayama Junkichi, from lectures held at Mayuyama Ryusendo]. no. 563, February 2000. p. 59.
  • Fu Yang. Kuan yu Kuang-chou ku mu Ch'ing fa... no. 6. p. 60, fig. 1.
  • Sotheby's (London). Sotheby's auction catalogue. London, July 12, 2006. p. 86.
Collection Area(s)
Chinese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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