Footnotes

南宋 龍泉窯青釉碗

Provenance:
Spink & Son Ltd., London
Emmanuel Christofides (1928-2020), Athens and London, acquired from the above circa 1970s

Published and Illustrated:
D.Priestley and M.Flacks, A Life in the Company of Song Ceramics, London, 2017, pp.36-37, no.12

來源：
倫敦古董商Spink & Son Ltd.
Emmanuel Christofides (1928-2020)，雅典和倫敦，約於1970年代從上處獲得

著錄：
D.Priestley和M.Flacks，《A Life in the Company of Song Ceramics》，倫敦，2017年，第36-37頁，編號12

While most celadon wares are characterised by their darker olive-green tones, the present lot stands out with a hue that more closely resembles the soft, pale green of pale white jade. This distinct and luminous glaze has been poetically termed kinuta by the Japanese — a reference to its resemblance to the glaze found on Longquan mallet-shaped vases that first arrived in Japan from Song dynasty China.

See a celadon porcelain bowl, named Bakōhan, Southern Song dynasty, with similarly coloured glaze, which was a particular favourite of Shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa (r.1449-1473), in the Tokyo National Museum (acc.no.TG-2354). It is interesting to note that the bowl with a similar colour glaze to the present lot was so highly valued by the Shogun, that when it accidentally cracked, the Shogun sent it back to China to exchange it with another of the same quality. However, as celadon wares of such high quality were no longer made in China in the 15th century, they returned the bowl to Japan with the crack simply fastened by a clamp. The bowl's value increased significantly in Japan due to the addition of a large metal clamp, which, with its striking resemblance to a locust, exemplified the beauty of imperfection central to the wabi-sabi aesthetic. This unique feature led to the bowl being named Bakōhan, or 'Large-Locust Clamp', transforming its flaw into a celebrated aspect of its character.

Originally, the term kinuta specifically referred to the mallet-shaped vessels (see also Lot 9 in this sale), named after the kinuta, or paper-beating mallet, which their form was thought to echo. Over time, however, kinuta came to denote a broader category of wares, defined not by shape but by their alluring, jade-like celadon glaze. This shimmering surface, with its subtle translucency and depth, embodies the refinement and artistry that made Longquan celadon so highly prized, both in its time and for centuries afterward.

Compare with a related Longquan celadon-glazed bowl, Song dynasty, of conical shape with rounded sides, illustrated by B.Gyllensvard, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, p.55, no.117. Another related Longquan celadon-glazed bowl, Southern Song dynasty, in the Zhejiang Provincial Museum, is illustrated in Longquan of the World: Longquan Celadon and Globalisation, vol.II, Beijing, 2019, pp.55, no.20.