Tea Bowl with "Hare's Fur" Streaking (Jian ware)
Artist/Culture
Chinese
Date12th or 13th century, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) or Southern song dynasty (1127–1279)
Mediumcoarse-grained stoneware with iron-rich lime-alkali glaze with iron-oxide streaks
Dimensions6.4 x 12 cm (2 1/2 x 4 3/4 in.)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineGift of Miss Mabel Carleton Gage
Object number1935.142
DescriptionSung dynasty; Tea bowl of Jian Type. Stoneware with Temmoku glaze, rabbit's fur typeLabel TextAs the custom of drinking tea grew in Fujian province and the popularity of tea competitions spread throughout Chinese society, the demand for Jian ware tea bowls made in Fujian also increased. Many fine Jian bowls were exported to Japan and Korea but the very best were sent to the imperial court and major monasteries. These two Jian bowls are both of the “narrow-mouth” style and embellished with the “hare’s fur” (tuhao) effect. Featuring steeply pitched walls, the bowls were fashioned to enable tea competitors to whisk their powdered green tea and hot water until light and frothy. Concave indentations beneath the lips made tea drinkers sip and savor the tea more slowly. The Northern Song Emperor Huizong (1101–1125) and the cultural elite praised the beauty of the white tea-froth, contrasted against the dark glazes of Jian ware bowls. Each bowl was wheel-thrown and, after drying, immersed in a lustrous, irontinted brownish-black or bluish-black glaze. Once the dark glaze coating had dried, the bowl’s lip was dipped in another highly iron-rich glaze solution. The bowl was then placed on a small clay disk inside a protective clay saggar. Fired in the oxidizing to a neutral high-firing atmosphere (1300–1330ºC) of a climbing dragon kiln (longyao), the glaze underwent a transformational liquid-liquid phase separation. Melting off the lip, a “hare’s fur” effect appeared when pure, tiny iron-oxide droplets bubbled, crystallized out, and formed streaks on the surface of the glaze. “Hare’s fur” streaks, as well as the glaze that pooled at the bottom and the thick exterior glaze, were highly appreciated by connoisseurs.ProvenanceMiss Mabel Carleton Gage, Worcester, MA.
On View
On view
Chinese
12th or 13th century, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) or Southern song dynasty (1127–1279)
Chinese
12th or early 13th century, Jin dynasty (1115–1234)
Chinese
Late Northern Song Dynasty (1042–1127)
Chinese
early 15th century, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Chinese
11th or 12th century, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)
Chinese
late 11th century –early 12th century, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127)
Chinese
11th or 12th century, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)
Chinese
Late Northern Song Dynasty (1042–1127)
Chinese
Late Yuan dynsaty (1279–1368)
Chinese
Southern Song period (1127–1279)
Chinese
15th century, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
