Harvard Art Museums > 2009.70: Small Ovoid Jar with Partridge-Feather Mottles Vessels Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Small Ovoid Jar with Partridge-Feather Mottles , 2009.70,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 23, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/332041. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Identification and Creation Object Number 2009.70 Title Small Ovoid Jar with Partridge-Feather Mottles Classification Vessels Work Type vessel Date 12th century Places Creation Place: East Asia, China Period Northern Song (960-1127) to Jin (1115-1234) period Culture Chinese Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/332041 Physical Descriptions Medium Northern black ware of Cizhou type: light gray stoneware with dark brown glaze, the russet markings in overglaze iron oxide Dimensions H. 12.7 x Diam. 13.4 cm (5 x 5 1/4 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History J.J. Lally & Co., New York (March-April 2009) Dr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon Collection, San Francisco (1985-2009) Sotheby's, London, 10 December 1985, lot 149 (1985) Frederick Knight, London (1972-1985) Bluett & Sons, London (1972) Professor Postan and Lady Cynthia Postan, London (1940s-1972) Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Alan J. and Suzanne W. Dworsky and of the Ralph C. Marcove International Understanding Through Arts and Crafts Foundation, Inc. Accession Year 2009 Object Number 2009.70 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. Descriptions Description This ovoid jar sports a lustrous black glaze enlivened with russet splashes. Of thinly potted form, the jar is surmounted by a short, upright neck with an unglazed rim around the wide mouth. (The unglazed lip indicates that the jar originally had a cover, now lost, which would have been fired in place.) The jar is covered inside and out with a lustrous, dark brown glaze that appears black in reflected light. Randomly applied splashes of matte russet-brown slip enliven the dark glaze, the splashes running downward and shading to iridescent green tones at the margins; since Song times, Chinese connoisseurs have termed the type of mottles that embellish this piece "partridge feather decoration." The well-controlled glaze ends in an even line well short of the high, lightly splayed foot, exposing the light gray stoneware body on the lower portion of the piece; the exposed body clay assumed a pale buff skin in firing. Publication History The Collection of Dr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, March 12 to April 4, 2009, auct. cat., J.J. Lally & Co. (New York, NY, 2009), no. 52 Verification Level This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator; it may be inaccurate or 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
