拍品专文
Ge wares are distinct in that they have thick, cream-coloured glaze and double crackle, to which the present piece possesses. The characteristic feature of this group is the pale yellowish glaze with a larger network of black crackle underlaid with a finer network of golden brown, known in Chinese as jinsi tiexian ('gold thread and iron wire'). Objects with the double-crackled glaze are considered the standard and likely to be the earliest ge ware type. Cf, the large octagonal vase of the type, sold in these Rooms, 18 March 1991, lot no. 506 and now in The T.T. Tsui Museum, Hong Kong; and the square cup also sold in these Rooms, 25 October 1993, lot 703. Other examples include the tripod incense burner in the shape of a bronze ding in the Percival David Foundation, London, Gugong bowuyuan yuankan, 1992, no. 2, cover; and S. Yorke Hartly. Illustrated Catalogue of Tung, Ju, Kwan, Chun, Kuang-rung and Glazed I-hsing Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, section I, London, 1953, pl. XIII, no. A29.
Ge ware is a well known and much admired, but little understood, ceramic type. Recognized as related to guan, or official, where its place of manufacture is a mystery and its dating much discussed. Traditionally know as one of the Five Great Wares of the Song Dynasty, ge ware is first mentioned in the Zhizheng zhiji by Kong Qi in 1363, where it is referred to as gegedong and gege ware. The author records the purchase of a ding tripod incese burner 'refined, and though new, its appearance is rich and lustrous as though made in the past'. The name ge first appears in the Ming Dynasty in the Xuande dingyipu. See, Gugong bowuyuan yuankan, 1992, no. 2, pp. 3-17. The question of ge ware recently has been subjected to close scrutiny by numerous scholars. The latest scholarship on the subject comes out of the international conference on ge ware that was organized by Wang Qingzheng of the Shanghai Museum and held in Shanghai in October 1992. For a report on this conference and further discussion of ge ware, see the articles by S.J. Vainker and Rosemary Scott in Oriental Art, Summer 1993.
The shape of this tripod vessel is very rare among existing guan and ge wares, however, one other example was offered in our New York Rooms, 3 June 1993, lot 207. Lobed brushwashers of guan and ge type with straight rims and no feet are the other closest vessel type of comparable date. These are generally called kuihua, or mallow flower-shaped dishes or brushwashers. A Ge ware kuihua brushwasher with double-crackled glaze is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, Gugong bowuyuan yuankan, 1992, no. 2, pl. 2. Several guan ware examples of this type of vessel can be seen in the National Palace Museum, Taibei. See Song Guanyao tezhan (Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Song Dynasty Guan Ware), Taibei National Museum, 1989, nos. 135-143. Another is in the Percival David Collection, Hartly, op. cit., 1953, pl. XIV, no. A46. A brushwasher of this shape, formerly in the collection of Frederick M. Mayer, was sold in our London Rooms, 24 June 1974, lot 60. Others have been sold at auction in recent years, at Sotheby's New York, on 8 May 1980, lot 160 and in their London Rooms, 11 December 1984, lot 206.
Ge and guan wares are much copied in the Ming and Qing period, as we know from examples with later reign marks. In the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods, in particular, imitations of classic wares and glazes were made. A guan ware lobed tripod basin similar in shape to the present example, with Yongzheng mark, formerly in the collection of Carl Kempe, was exhibited by the Oriental Ceramic Society in 1952. An example from the J.M. Hu and Robert Chang collections was inlcuded in the Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection at Christies Catalogue, 1993, no. 62. Another tripod basin, on the base of which is a circular abraded patch where a mark or inscription appears to have been ground away, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: Ju and Kuan Wares--Imperial wares of the Sung Dynasty, Related Wares and Derivatives of Later date, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1952, pl. 6, no. 110, and introduction. See, also, Leigh Ashton and Basil Gray, Chinese Art, Faber and Faber, London, pl. 77b
Ge ware is a well known and much admired, but little understood, ceramic type. Recognized as related to guan, or official, where its place of manufacture is a mystery and its dating much discussed. Traditionally know as one of the Five Great Wares of the Song Dynasty, ge ware is first mentioned in the Zhizheng zhiji by Kong Qi in 1363, where it is referred to as gegedong and gege ware. The author records the purchase of a ding tripod incese burner 'refined, and though new, its appearance is rich and lustrous as though made in the past'. The name ge first appears in the Ming Dynasty in the Xuande dingyipu. See, Gugong bowuyuan yuankan, 1992, no. 2, pp. 3-17. The question of ge ware recently has been subjected to close scrutiny by numerous scholars. The latest scholarship on the subject comes out of the international conference on ge ware that was organized by Wang Qingzheng of the Shanghai Museum and held in Shanghai in October 1992. For a report on this conference and further discussion of ge ware, see the articles by S.J. Vainker and Rosemary Scott in Oriental Art, Summer 1993.
The shape of this tripod vessel is very rare among existing guan and ge wares, however, one other example was offered in our New York Rooms, 3 June 1993, lot 207. Lobed brushwashers of guan and ge type with straight rims and no feet are the other closest vessel type of comparable date. These are generally called kuihua, or mallow flower-shaped dishes or brushwashers. A Ge ware kuihua brushwasher with double-crackled glaze is in the Palace Museum, Beijing, Gugong bowuyuan yuankan, 1992, no. 2, pl. 2. Several guan ware examples of this type of vessel can be seen in the National Palace Museum, Taibei. See Song Guanyao tezhan (Catalogue of the Special Exhibition of Song Dynasty Guan Ware), Taibei National Museum, 1989, nos. 135-143. Another is in the Percival David Collection, Hartly, op. cit., 1953, pl. XIV, no. A46. A brushwasher of this shape, formerly in the collection of Frederick M. Mayer, was sold in our London Rooms, 24 June 1974, lot 60. Others have been sold at auction in recent years, at Sotheby's New York, on 8 May 1980, lot 160 and in their London Rooms, 11 December 1984, lot 206.
Ge and guan wares are much copied in the Ming and Qing period, as we know from examples with later reign marks. In the Yongzheng and Qianlong periods, in particular, imitations of classic wares and glazes were made. A guan ware lobed tripod basin similar in shape to the present example, with Yongzheng mark, formerly in the collection of Carl Kempe, was exhibited by the Oriental Ceramic Society in 1952. An example from the J.M. Hu and Robert Chang collections was inlcuded in the Exhibition of Important Chinese Ceramics from the Robert Chang Collection at Christies Catalogue, 1993, no. 62. Another tripod basin, on the base of which is a circular abraded patch where a mark or inscription appears to have been ground away, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: Ju and Kuan Wares--Imperial wares of the Sung Dynasty, Related Wares and Derivatives of Later date, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1952, pl. 6, no. 110, and introduction. See, also, Leigh Ashton and Basil Gray, Chinese Art, Faber and Faber, London, pl. 77b