Accession Number1973/2.17
TitleBowl
Artist(s)ChineseArtist NationalityChinese (culture or style)Object Creation Date960-1279Medium & Supportporcelain with glazeDimensions 1 3/4 in x 7 1/8 in x 7 1/8 in (4.4 cm x 18.1 cm x 18.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mrs. Caroline I. Plumer for the James Marshall Plumer CollectionLabel copyQingbai wares were produced in south China in the Song period at Jingdezhen, in imitation of Northern Ding ware porcelain. A comparison between the two (an example of Ding ware is on the shelf above) shows the difference: a reducing atmosphere in the Jingdezhen kiln and differences in the clay result in the pale blue cast to Qingbai wares.
Maribeth Graybill, Senior Curator of Asian Art
Exhibited in "Flora and Fauna in Chinese Art," April 6, 2002 - December 1, 2002.
Subject matterThis is a
Qingbai (青白, literally “bluish white”) teabowl of the Song dynasty (960-1279). The unglazed rim would have been finished with a copper or silver metal band.
From the eighth century on, tea drinking was firmly established as an important Chinese social custom. The tea was taken in the form of a powder that was whisked into a frothy brew with hot water in elegant conical ceramic bowls. Initially, white wares from Yue, Xing, and Ding kilns were favored, but later black tea bowls from Jian became the color of choice.
Qingbai wares, which consisted primarily of tea bowls, were produced in southern China during the Song dynasty (960-1279) at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi in imitation of northern Ding porcelains. A reduction atmosphere in the Jingdezhen kilns and a high kaolin and low iron content in the clay result in the pale blue cast to Qingbai wares.
Song society, lead by cultured emperors like Huizong (r. 1101-26) and Gaozong (r.1127-63), did not seek power and empire like the previous Tang dynasty, but instead sought learning and contemplation surrounded by refined and elegant daily objects. The pottery industry responded by producing immaculate white wares that could replace silver as luxury tableware. By the eleventh century, Ding had become firmly established as the great white ware of the north, just as the great white ware of the south,
qingbai ware was started being produced at the kilns of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province. Chinese connoisseurs of the time praised the color and feel of
qingbai tea bowls as being like “icy jade” and the ware went on to make Jingdezhen the porcelain capital of the world from the tenth to fourteenth centuries.
Physical DescriptionThis thin porcelain conical bowl with direct rim on a footring has an interior with incised floral meander decoration. It is covered in a white glaze with bluish tinge and has an unglazed rim.
Primary Object Classification Ceramic Primary Object TypebowlCollection AreaAsianRightsIf you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit
http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Keywords
Asia
Qingbai
bowl
bowls (vessels)
ceramic (material)
porcelain (material)
porcelain (visual works)
