A RARE CIZHOU SGRAFFIATO TRUNCATED MEIPING, TULUPING, SONG DYNASTY
China, 960-1279. The high-shouldered body surmounted by a short narrow neck and outwardly curved rim, finely decorated in a cut-slip technique through the outer dark-brown layer of the slip to the white layer underneath and covered overall in a clear pale-crackled glaze. The body encircled with four large peony blooms borne on a meandering scroll with trefoil leaves below scrolling bands, all between overlapping petal-lappets. The mouth left in white slip, the unglazed base revealing the smooth pale gray ware.


Provenance:
New York trade. Acquired from a private collector, by repute.

Condition:
Very good condition with ancient wear, the foot with some smoothened chips, shallow surface scratches, some firing irregularities, glaze flakes, and one vertical hairline.

Weight: 1,125 g
Dimensions: Height 15 cm. Diameter 15.5 cm


Some of the most attractive Cizhou wares
are those made by various kilns in northern China with designs reserved in black against a white ground. The complicated technique used to create the striking decoration in contrasting colors seen on the present piece is known by the Italian term sgraffiato, literally ‘scratched’. It first appeared around the late eleventh century, and was created through the application of contrasting layers of slip or glaze. On the present truncated bottle, a layer of dark brown, almost black slip was applied over white slip, which was later carefully incised to create decorative patterns by revealing the pristine white layer beneath, and then finally covered by a layer of clear glaze. This labor-intensive and time-consuming technique adds a sense of opulence and luxury to the stoneware.


The vase is also notable for its well-proportioned form,
with a small mouth, broad shoulders and a wide base, which is known as ‘tuluping’ or ‘truncated meiping’. This form, which was produced at many northern kilns, is closely related to the taller meiping, a quintessential Song shape, but enjoyed a much shorter period of production. It was produced for only about a hundred years during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, leaving behind a relatively small number of extant examples.


Auction result comparison:

Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s New York, 17 March 2021, lot 123
Estimate: USD 200,000 or approx.
EUR 213,000
converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A superb black-glazed 'Cizhou' sgraffiato 'peony' 'tulu' vase, Northern Song / Jin dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the related form and sgraffiato decoration. Note the larger size (23 cm).





宋代磁州窯牡丹紋吐魯瓶


中國, 960-1279年。器身短頸，口沿外彎，丰肩。白釉黑彩剔花裝飾工藝，牡丹花紋凸起，黑白兩色對比強烈。畫面構圖飽滿，剔刻流暢奔放有力， 又不失精細與靈巧。牡丹花之間用纏枝相連。底部無釉，露出光滑的淺灰色胎。


來源：
紐約古玩交易；據説購於私人收藏。

品相：
狀況極好，有磨損，足部有一些刻痕，表面淺劃痕，一些燒製不規則，釉面開片和一條垂直的冲線。

重量：1,125 克
尺寸：高 15.4 厘米


宋代磁州窯系
是北方地區代表性民間瓷窯，這些瓷器保留了白地黑彩圖案。本件拍品中所採用的複雜技術以對比色打造對比鮮明的紋飾，意大利語稱之 sgraffiato 。它首次出現於十一世紀末，是通過應用對比鮮明的釉料層或釉料而製成的。本瓶是在器皿坯體上頂部施白、黑色兩層化妝土，劃出花紋圖案，並清晰去如外面的黑彩，這種耗時的技術為炻器增添了豐富和奢華的感覺。


此瓶亦以器形勻稱
，小口，寬肩，寬底而著稱，俗稱“吐嚕瓶”或“矮梅瓶”。此器多產於北方，與較高的梅瓶密切相關，是典型的宋器，但生產時間較短。它在十一至十二世紀僅生產了大約一百年，留下了相對較少的現存例子。


拍賣結果比較：


形制：非常相近
拍賣：紐約蘇富比，2021年3月17日，lot 123
估價：USD 200,000（相當於今日
EUR 213,000
）
描述：宋 / 金磁州窰黑釉劃牡丹紋小口瓶
專家評論：比較相近的外形和裝飾。請注意尺寸較大 (23 釐米)。