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| Ru stoneware bowl opaque lavender-blue celadon glaze with copper rim Northern Song Dynasty (1086-1125) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
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| Ru stoneware bowl opaque lavender-blue celadon glaze with copper rim Northern Song Dynast (1086-1125) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
"Jun wares were all produced at the Xiuneisi. Many dishes have survived but bowls are difficult to find. In the palace alone are stored well-nigh a hundred dishes. Yet bowls are as rare as stars in the morning. What is there, forsooth, for which a cause cannot be found? Large bowls are difficult to preserve, small dishes easy. In this I find a moral and a warning. The greater the object, the heavier the task of its care. Composed by the Qianlong emperor in the cyclical year bingwu [AD 1786]."
The Qianlong emperor composed this poem in eight lines of seven characters each. It is faintly visible in the photograph immediately above on the inside of the bowl, where the poem was inscribed by Imperial Order in the year 1786. At that time the bowl itself was already around 700 years old and had evidently remained inside the Forbidden City for the entire span of its existence. It has been on display in London since the 1930s and can now be seen inside a special Chinese Ceramics gallery opened in 2009 at the British Museum to accommodate the famous Percival David Collection.
The ink-stone below from the same source has a different sort of inscription, cut into the clay before glazing and firing. It reads, "Beautifully made in mid-autumn of the third lunar year of Yuan Fu [AD 1100]"
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| Yue stoneware ink-stone rectangular straight-sided vessel with thick gray-green glaze Northern Song Dynasty (1100) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
Another poem by the 18th-century Qianlong emperor was inscribed by his order on the small round base of the bowl below. His text describes the extremely subtle, incised design of phoenixes and peony scrolls on the bowl's interior. "Amid accumulated pollen and massed flowers the two phoenixes droop their wings. The color is confined to that prized by the Yin dynasty, simple and unadorned. It is not till we come down to the Zhu dynasty and Xuande and Chenghua that we get elaborate painting and employment of five colors. Composed by the Qianlong emperor in the Spring of the dingyou year [AD 1777]."
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| Ding stoneware bowl white clay with transparent glaze and copper rim Northern Song Dynasty (12th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
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| Ding stoneware bowl (interior) white clay with transparent glaze and copper rim Northern Song Dynasty (12th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
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| Ding stoneware bowl (bottom) white clay with transparent glaze and copper rim Northern Song Dynasty (12th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
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| Ding stoneware bowl (bottom, inscription detail) white clay with transparent glaze and copper rim Northern Song Dynasty (12th century) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
The vessel below was of a common type used in ancient Chinese burial practices to store supplies for those in the afterlife. Less commonly, the exact year of its creation and the name of its maker are documented. Incised vertical lines divide the sides into panels. Within these panels, the artist has incised a text: "With the prayer that this vessel will hold fragrant wine for hundreds and thousands of years; that I may have a thousand sons and ten thousand grandsons; that they be wealthy and live long lives; that they may enjoy good fortune and happiness; on the fifteenth day of the ninth month of leap year in the third year of the Yuanfeng period [AD 1080], I have fired this vessel, signed by Liang Yinghcheng."
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| Longquan stoneware funerary urn ovoid vessel, incised, with celadon glaze Northern Song Dynasty (1080) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
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| Longquan stoneware funerary urn detail of incised inscription Northern Song Dynasty (1080) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
The Qianlong emperor also left a poetic appreciation of the head-rest below. His text is inscribed in characters of gold on the unglazed bottom surface: "Its color is the blue of sky after rain, just as it was described by the ancient Ba jian. The shape of the Ruyi pillow gives much pleasure whether one is asleep or awake. There will always be much discussion of a work of art, but the thing one must guard against is the temptation to sleep late. Pre-eminently the pillow demonstrates the genius of the potter in producing such an artistic design and in controlling the firing so successfully. Composed by the Qianlong emperor in the cyclical year xinchou [AD 1781]."
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| Jun stoneware head-rest Ruyi-cloud shape, celadon glaze Northern Song Dynasty (1000-1127) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
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| Jun stoneware head-rest unglazed bottom surface, inscribed in gold Northern Song Dynasty (1000-1127) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
The simple stoneware jar below is another extremely old piece with an exact date and named creator, as written in brown on the side of the jar underneath the green-brown glaze: "In the third year of the Changqing period [AD 823] the Buddhist believer Bo Sidu respectfully made this vessel as an offering to be placed before the Great Buddha."
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| Stoneware jar underglaze painting of tiger and clouds Tang Dynasty (823) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
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| Stoneware jar underglaze inscription in brown Tang Dynasty (823) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |
The final item is also the most recent, a blue-and-white porcelain ink-stone from the 17th century with a long underglaze inscription in cobalt blue: "I take home a stone, but it is like I have the entire ocean tucked into my sleeve; it has served me as an ink stone for a thousand years; transformed in the potter's kiln, it is round and bright like the moon. In it I put my ink and drive my brush, the task is effortless and the accomplishment doubled; having made this literary encounter, I achieve great ease. Autumn of the xinhai year [AD 1671] inscribed by the scholar Yi'an [pseudonym of Xiang Wenhuan]."
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| Circular porcelain ink-stone underglaze inscription in cobalt-blue Qing Dynasty (1671) Sir Percival David Collection, British Museum |