Flat Circular Dish with Everted Rim and with Decoration of Two Geese in Flight amidst Clouds, the Geese Carrying Blossoming Branches in Their Beaks

Gallery Text

Chinese ceramic wares made in Song dynasty (960–1279) court taste are esteemed for their refined forms, subtle decoration, and soft, muted glaze colors. Buoyed by national peace, economic prosperity, and the rise of a highly educated civil official class, local ceramics industries throughout China began to thrive and innovate at unprecedented levels.

Kilns seeking to supply household wares to their highly cultured clientele often created pieces that were reminiscent of other precious items. For example, northern Ding wares, with their decorative designs and thin bodies, were often compared to silverwork, while the thick green glazes coating southern Longquan wares brought carved jades to mind. Although natural forms were popular, like those inspired by flower blossoms, government officials, who had attained their positions through long study of ancient texts and history, were especially drawn to ceramics that resembled the bronzes and jades of antiquity. Courtly taste in China would change drastically after the Song, shifting toward brightly decorated blue-and-white porcelains, invented at Jingdezhen in the fourteenth century and manufactured at the same kilns that produced the delicate blue-tinged white wares known as qingbai.

Identification and Creation

Object Number: 1991.271
Title: Flat Circular Dish with Everted Rim and with Decoration of Two Geese in Flight amidst Clouds, the Geese Carrying Blossoming Branches in Their Beaks
Classification: Vessels
Work Type: vessel
Date: late 12th-early 13th century
Places: Creation Place: East Asia, China, Hebei province, Quyang
Period: Jin dynasty, 1115-1234
Culture: Chinese
Persistent Link: https://hvrd.art/o/201798

Physical Descriptions

Medium: Ding ware: porcelaneous white stoneware with ivory-hued glaze over mold-impressed decoration, the unglazed rim bound with metal. From the Ding kilns at Quyang, Hebei province.
Dimensions: H. 1.5 x Diam. 14.3 cm (9/16 x 5 5/8 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History: [Bluett & Sons Ltd., London] sold; to Ralph C. Marcove, M.D., New York (by 1991), gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 1991.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line: Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Gift of Ralph C. Marcove, M.D.
Accession Year: 1991
Object Number: 1991.271
Division: Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact: am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions: The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.

Publication History

Yutaka Mino, Chinese Relics from the Collection of Dr. Ralph Marcove, exh. cat., Indianapolis Museum of Art (1981), p. 39, cat. no. 51

Exhibition History

A Decade of Collecting: Asian Acquisitions 1990-1999, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 03/11/2000 - 11/05/2000
Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Paintings from China, Korea, and Japan, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 11/25/2000 - 08/26/2001
32Q: 2600 East Asian, Japanese, Chinese and Korean, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/13/2020

Subjects and Contexts

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

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1991.271: Flat Circular Dish with Everted Rim and with Decoration of Two Geese in Flight amidst Clouds, the Geese Carrying Blossoming Branches in Their Beaks