The wares of the Sung dynasty

The wares of the Sung dynasty (AD 960-1279) are particularly noted for brilliant feldspathic glazes over a stoneware body and their emphasis on simplicity of form. Decoration is infrequent but may be incised, molded, impressed, or carved.

A certain amount of painted decoration was done at Tz'u-chou in Chihli (now called Hopeh) Province (see below). The esteem accorded to the Sung wares accounts for the relatively large number that have survived. The principal varieties are Ju, kuan, Ko, Ting, Lung-ch'üan, Chün, Chien, Tz'u-chou, and ying-ch'ing. Ju ware has a buff stoneware body and is covered with a dense greenish-blue glaze that sometimes has a fine crackle. It was made in Honan at an Imperial factory that apparently had a life of about 20 years, starting in 1107. Kuan ("official") is another Imperial ware that is also exceedingly scarce. It was probably first made in the north, the kilns being reestablished at Hangchow in Chekiang Province about 1127, when the court fled southward to escape the Chin Tatar invaders. The body is of stoneware washed with brown slip. The glaze varies from pale green to lavender blue, with a wide-meshed crackle emphasized by the application of brown pigment. Chinese references to "a brown mouth and an iron foot" can be identified with the colour of the rim and the foot ring. Ko ware is closely related to kuan ware. It has a dark stoneware body and a grayish-white glaze with a wellmarked crackle, which was induced deliberately for its decorative effect. Ding wares are white. Some exhibit an orange translucency, while the coarser varieties are opaque. The finest examples are called "white" (bai) Ting. On the exterior of bowls and similar vessels the glaze of white Ting is apt to collect in drops, called teardrops. Many articles, particularly bowls, were fired mouth downward, leaving an unglazed rim that was afterward bound with a band of copper or silver. (Bands appear occasionally on other Sung wares, notably ying-ch'ing, and were sometimes used to conceal damage rather than an unglazed rim.) Coarser varieties are known as "flour" (fen) Ting and "earthen" (t'u) Ting, and there are also a few examples of black Ting. As in the case of kuan ware, the kilns are said to have been removed southward in 1127, but it has so far proved impossible to differentiate between the northern and southern varieties. Other white wares made elsewhere during the period include those of Tz'u-chou and a variety covered with a white slip over a grayish body from Chü-lu Hsien (both in present Hopeh Province). The celadons of Lung-ch'an are, perhaps, the most common of the classic Sung wares. The town is in the province of Chekiang, near the capital of the southern Sung emperors at Hangchow. The kilns probably date back to the 10th century. The glaze, of superb quality, is a transparent green in colour. It is thick and viscous, usually with a well-marked crackle. (The glaze on early specimens is less transparent and is denser.) The body is gray to grayish white, best seen at the rim, where the glaze tends to be thin. By far the most frequent surviving examples of Lung-ch'üan celadon are large dishes, for which there was a thriving export trade, due in part to the superstition that a celadon dish would break or change colour if poisoned food were put into it. Bowls and large vases, both of which are scarce, were also made with this glaze. Decoration is usually incised, but molded decoration is also found. On some pots the molding was left unglazed, so that it burned to a dark reddish brown--an effective contrast to the colour of the glaze. The more finely potted wares are the scarcest and often the oldest. The heavier varieties were intended to withstand the rigours of transport to overseas markets, and probably most of them belong to the Yüan dynasty (1206-1368), when the export trade was considerably extended. Jun ware comes from the K'ai-feng district of Honan Province. The body is a grayish-white, hard-fired stoneware covered with a thick, dense, lavender-blue glaze often suffused with crimson purple. This is the first example of a reduced copper, or flambé, glaze. Conical bowls are especially numerous, and dishes are not unusual, but the finer specimens are usually flowerpots, sometimes said to have been made for Imperial use. Characteristic are barely perceptible channels or tracks caused by the parting of the viscous glaze; these are called earthworm tracks by the Chinese. The kilns probably continued to produce this ware until the 16th century, and it is difficult to separate some of the later productions from the earlier. Chien ware is called after the original place of manufacture, Chien-an, in Fukien Province. Manufacture was later moved to nearby Chien-yang, probably during the Yüan period. The glaze is very dark brown, approaching black, over a dark stoneware body, and it usually stops short of the base in a thick treacly roll. There are many variations in the colour of the glaze. Streaks in lighter brown are referred to by the Chinese as hare's fur. Silvery spots on the glaze are called oil spots. The most usual surviving form is the teabowl; these were much esteemed by the Japanese under the name of temmoku and were used in the tea ceremony (see below Japan: Kamakura and Muromachi periods). The kilns of Tz'u-chou, formerly in Honan, are now in Hopeh Province. The earliest surviving examples are referable to the T'ang dynasty. In the Sung period, vases, wine jars, and pillows (which are more comfortable than they appear) were the most usual products. The body is usually a hard-fired, grayish-white stoneware that was first covered with a wash of white slip and then with a transparent glaze. For the first time painted decoration appears under the glaze, perhaps as a result of influence from the Middle East (see above Islamic: Mesopotamia and Persia: 11th to 15th century). Decoration is nearly always in brown or black; the motifs are usually floral and display a singular freedom of line that is very attractive. (The inclusion of human and animal figures suggests a Yüan or a Ming dating, at the least.) The slip covering was sometimes carved away, leaving a pattern in contrasting colour, a technique also used in conjunction with a dark brown glaze. A hare's-fur glaze, similar to that of Chien wares, was also employed. A blue glaze with painted decoration in black beneath it was obviously inspired by contemporary Persian pottery decorated in the same way. Another innovation, perhaps derived from the same source, is the use of colours applied over the glaze. These are limited to primitive reds and greens and yellows. An important and not uncommon ware is ying-ch'ing ("shadowy blue"). It was manufactured in both the south (Kiangsi) and the north (Hopeh). Moreover, it was extensively exported and has been found as far west as the ruins of al-Fustat in Old Cairo. The body is pale buff in colour, usually translucent, and thinly potted, breaking with a sugary fracture. Most genuine examples seem to belong to the Sung and Yüan periods, but it is probable that, in the north at any rate, manufacture started late in the T'ang dynasty and lasted well into the Ming period. Bowls of conical form are the commonest survival, and many are decorated with incised floral and foliate motifs. Lightly molded decoration occurs, as does combing of the clay. The mei p'ing vase is found with this glaze; it has a tall body with straight sides, high, rounded shoulders, and a short narrow neck and was intended to hold a single spray of prunus blossom. Stem cups, deep bowls, and ewers were also produced. Bowls sometimes have the rim bound with copper.

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Jan-Erik Nilsson