BOTTLE, Cizhou kiln, white-ground sgraffito with peony scroll design, With wooden box, Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE)

A white-ground sgraffito bottle from the Cizhou kiln, decorated with a peony scroll design, Song Dynasty.

The vessel rises with a slightly swelling body into a slender neck, the mouth markedly flaring outward. At a convenient height of 30cm, it nevertheless conveys a generous sense of mass in the body and a taut, projecting rim, revealing the vigorous profile characteristic of the Cizhou kiln.

The body is broadly encircled by a peony-scroll motif. On a surface covered with white slip the design was created by sgraffito, leaving the darker ground to show through so that the white peonies and scrolling foliage stand out crisply. The petals are large and the scrolls extend in spiraling curves, vividly expressing the expansive decorative character seen in the Cizhou kilns of the Song dynasty.

A band of floral motifs encircles the shoulder, providing a counterpoint to the large scrolling arabesque on the body. The dark brown ground that wraps around the lower section sets off the remaining white design with striking clarity, giving the piece visual presence even from a distance. At the same time, traces of the sgraffito blade’s movement and the character of the incised lines remain in the details; the closer one looks, the more vividly the density of the handwork is revealed.

The white ground shows fine crackle, and here and there one observes areas of glaze pooling and the textured tone of iron-bearing clay. The crazing from the inner rim down the neck is especially attractive, and within the bright quality characteristic of white-ground Cizhou ware there is a depth that speaks to the passage of time.

There are clay deposits and areas where the glaze has flaked around the foot, but the vessel’s body and decorative motifs remain well preserved. The contrast between the white ground and dark brown, the expansive peony-and-arabesque design, and its assured presence as a bottle together make this piece a fine example of the strengths of Cizhou kiln production in the Song dynasty.

A wooden storage box is included.