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Bowl with Lotus Flower Design (Longquan ware, "Southern celadon")
Bowl with Lotus Flower Design (Longquan ware, "Southern celadon")
Image © Worcester Art Museum, all rights reserved.

Bowl with Lotus Flower Design (Longquan ware, "Southern celadon")

Dateearly to mid 12th century, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)
Mediumporcelaneous ware with lime glaze, tinted by traces of iron and titanium
Dimensions8.2 x 19.5 cm (3 1/4 x 7 11/16 in.)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineBequest of Charles B. Cohn in memory of Stuart P. Anderson
Object number1985.116
Label TextFrom the 10th century until the early 18th century, the kilns in Longquan county produced a greenware that is popularly known as “southern celadon.” This term is used to distinguish it from “northern celadon,” or Yaozhou ware (cf. 2008.46). The earliest Longquan ware imitated the long-established grey-green Yue ware (produced for centuries in northeastern Zhejiang until the early 12th century). However, during the late 11th and early 12th centuries, the Longquan kilns experimented with numerous celadon glazes, all differing in nuance due to varying ratios of titanium to iron in the raw materials (e.g., duck-egg blue, blue-green to sea-green). According to shards uncovered in recent excavations, this bowl, with its sparse, carved decoration of lotus blossoms and thin, frosty, pale grayish-green lime glaze, can be dated to the early or mid-12th century. Its thick-walled lower portions prevented the silicon-rich clay from warping in high-firing temperatures (about 1300ºC).ProvenanceCharles B. Cohn
On View
On view
Current Location
  • Exhibition Location  Gallery 112
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