YOU ARE HERE:>>REAL or FAKE>>Chine Song dynasty "hare's fur" bowls.

 

10th December 09

 

I deal very little in Chinese antiquities but a question about this type of apparently widely available pottery type prompted me to create this section.

 

One of the most famous black wares produced in China is the Jian (Jianyang) ware of Fujian province, known in Japan as Temmoku. This is a Japanese rendering of the Chinese term, Tianmu, which is actually actually a place name.

 

The black glaze of Jian bowl was sometimes marked with streaks or spots, usually called "hare's fur" or "oil spot", which are the crystalline markings of iron oxide precipitated during firing ; the excess iron oxide migrates to the surface of the glaze where it collects into spots of pure metallic iron.

 

Jian tea bowls became popular with the change in taste from steeped green tea to whisked powdered tea in the Song dynasty. They were admired and used by the Northern Song emperor Huizong  (1100-1125) and were imported into Japan from the 12th century, where they were copied at various local kilns  and called Temmoku.

 

Quite a number of  black glazed bowls with this effect appear on the market and are invariably said to be dated to the Song dynasty.

 






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They come as small bowls of varying profile and depth.











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The special glaze effect is also variable.

 








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So which are genuinely Song, and which are relatively modern?

 

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