From the November 2024 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.
Pottery has been made in China for more than 20,000 years. High points of achievement include the black wheelthrown pottery of the Neolithic Longshan culture, from the third millennium BC; fine soft-bodied white-wares from the Shang dynasty (c. 1600–1046 BC); Yue ware, with its olive and green celadon glazes, and hunping or ‘soul jars’, from the later Han and Six dynasties eras; and the large scale ‘three-colour’ (sancai) lead-glazed funerary wares and figurines of the Tang dynasty (618–907). As well as responding to the turbulent political history of this vast empire and the differing geographies of Northern and Southern kingdoms, each new type was prompted by the discovery of new clay bodies and technical advances in wheel construction, glaze chemistry and kiln firing. The acme of Chinese ceramic production, however, is the Song period (960–1279). The refined vessels of the so-called Five Great Kilns (Ru, Guan, Ge, Ding and Jun), with their simple forms, subtle monochrome glazes and lightly impressed decoration, have inspired awe since their creation. Unlike earlier wares, they have survived without being buried or sunk, though some in very small numbers, such as the delicate duck-egg blue Ru ware, made between 1086 and 1125, of which fewer than a hundred pieces are known. The Qing dynasty Yongzheng Emperor (r. 1722–35) encouraged his own imperial potters to imitate them, while his son, the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735–96), so admired Song pots (‘as precious as morning stars’) that he wrote poetry about them.
It was the highly decorated, superbly potted porcelain of the Ming and Qing eras, from the 14th century to 1911, that first dazzled European audiences. Only at the end of the 19th century, as the digging of Chinese railways involving European contractors exposed thousands of archaeological sites, including tombs and kilns, did the full depth and breadth of Chinese pottery become known to foreigners. The Boxer Rebellion (1899–1901), inspired by hostility to foreign influence, curtailed explorations. However, its brutal suppression by a coalition of foreign forces led to the break-up of many established collections of Tang and Song art, with forced sales and looting introducing important pieces into the European market. Some of the finest were displayed in the exhibition of early Chinese pottery and porcelain at the Burlington Fine Arts Club in London in 1910. In 1920, Roger Fry chose a ‘Sung’ bowl as an exemplary focus for aesthetic contemplation in his book Vision and Design. Henry Howard-Sneyd, Sotheby’s chairman of Asian Art, Europe and Americas, says: ‘From the moment they were first dug up, a Tang horse was the thing to have from China.’ During the 20th century, major collections in Europe, the UK, the United States and Japan would have ‘a pair of horses, a pair of court ladies, a pair of camels’. The boom in Tang horses reached a peak in 1989 with a notable sale (after a dramatic heist in Hong Kong, followed by a sting operation which successfully recovered it) by the British Rail Pension Fund at Sotheby’s London for £3.7m.
In the last 20 years, Chinese buyers have increasingly turned their attention from Ming and Qing wares to earlier pieces. Lazarus Halstead, head of Chinese and Asian Art at Bonhams London, notes that ‘The finest examples are increasingly finding a receptive audience among Chinese collectors.’ Howard-Sneyd reports interest in Neolithic Longshan globular jars and imitations of leather, silver and bronze vessels created by potters of the Liao dynasty (907–1125), ruled by the nomadic Khitan people; he says that ‘inasmuch as they are interested in older pieces, Chinese buyers prefer vessels to figures and bright glazes to unglazed painted pieces’. Since 2010 Chinese interest in the best Song wares has soared. In 2012 Sotheby’s Hong Kong sold a Ru ware brush-washer bowl, the pair of one in the British Museum, for HK$207.9m ($26.7m), then an auction record for Song ceramics. In 2017, again at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, another ‘almost unobtainable’ Ru brush-washer dish set a new world auction record for Chinese ceramics, fetching HK$294.3m (estimate HK$100m–HK$300m), nearly $38m. That exceeded the $36m achieved for a tiny Ming dynasty ‘Chicken Cup’ at Sotheby’s Hong Kong in 2014.
Recent economic uncertainty in China has allowed a modest recalibration of the market, but Tiphaine Nicoul, director of the Asian department at Christie’s Paris, says: ‘Exceptional pieces still fetch extraordinarily high prices at auction.’ This is confirmed by the $1.9m paid at Christie’s New York in March 2024 for a rare Ge-type foliate dish of the Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, from the Linyushanren Collection in Japan. An exceptional Yuan blue and white jar, from the Tianminlou Collection assembled by the late Ko Shih Chao, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong in November 2023 for HK$67.8 ($8.1m; estimate HK$20m–HK$30m), reflecting the high interest in these groundbreaking porcelain wares from Jingdezhen.
Jar, Yuan Dynasty (c. 1320–52), China. Photo: © Eskenazi Ltd.
For Asian Art in London, Eskenazi Ltd is showing Yuan and early Ming blue and white porcelain, including seven exceptional pieces. Among them is an extremely rare Yuan dynasty guan jar (c. 1320–52) – one of only five known examples of this type, three of which are in institutions. Daniel Eskenazi says, ‘They are not only unusual and visually striking, but technically would have been at the cutting edge of Yuan porcelain production, featuring the combined use of painted underglaze cobalt blue and underglaze copper-red decoration with applied relief elements using moulding, carving, incising and beaded borders.’ At this date cobalt, imported from the Middle East, contained impurities, so the colours vary, distinguishing them from later Ming pieces, and they have no imperial mark. Eskenazi loves the Yuan pieces for their individuality: ‘All the patterns are different – later they become much more stylised. The Yuan style is like painting.’ More generally, he thinks that China’s economic slowdown has relaxed the market a little, encouraging some collectors who were previously out-priced.
Describing the highly prized crackles in the characteristic green glaze of the immaculate Longquan (Southern Song dynasty, 1127–1279) cup he is offering at his first Asian Art in London, Amsterdam-based dealer Paul Ruitenbeek remarks that actual damage matters less than rarity and provenance: ‘The quantity of fakes and forgeries coming from China has greatly boosted the value of provenance.’ A pedigree that includes the Sir Percival David Collection, or another of equal note, is highly valued by his clients – mostly American, British and European. He also notes, besides strong interest in fine Ding (white), Yaozhou, Longquan and Jun (distinctive blue with purple splashes) wares, many collectors are looking for Sui, Tang and Five-Dynasties white and green glazed wares. He adds, ‘Among certain kilns, including Yaozhou, connoisseurs appreciate rare shapes or motifs. Other kilns, like Ding and Jun are appreciated for […] how the glaze enhances a motif or shapes.’ Some types of ceramics previously underrated are now better understood, he suggests, ‘including white and black glazed wares from various kilns’. He will show a Southern Song dynasty Jizhou bowl with black glaze and mulberry leaf design alongside a much earlier Longshan type ewer from the Neolithic period.
Samuel Marchant, of the long-established London-based Chinese art gallery Marchant, points out that next summer EU Import Regulation 2019/880 comes into force, barring the import into the eurozone of a range of cultural goods more than 200 years old except those with either a secure export licence or evidence of presence outside the country of origin before 1972. Though porcelain from the Ming period and later may not be included, most Song and earlier wares appear to be. Archaeological material is particularly prohibited, which includes 90 per cent of Tang pieces. While dealers, auction houses and collectors puzzle through the detail, the implementation is likely to have a negative effect on the European market.
From the November 2024 issue of Apollo. Preview and subscribe here.