Footnotes

南宋/元 青白釉琮式瓶

Provenance:
Sotheby's London, 8 June 1993, lot 20
Emmanuel Christofides (1928-2020), Athens and London

Published and Illustrated:
D.Priestley and M.Flacks, A Life in the Company of Song Ceramics, London, 2017, pp.64-65, no.26

來源：
倫敦蘇富比，1993年6月8日，拍品編號20
Emmanuel Christofides (1928-2020)，雅典和倫敦

著錄：
D.Priestley和M.Flacks，《A Life in the Company of Song Ceramics》，倫敦，2017年，第64-65頁，編號26

During the Song dynasty, spurred by emerging intellectual movements such as Neo-Confucianism championed by Zhu Xi (1130–1200), the literati class fostered a profound interest in antiquity, reviving the appreciation of ancient bronzes as a cornerstone of their engagement with China's cultural heritage. This renewed interest was deeply intertwined with their scholarly pursuits and the broader resurgence of Confucian ideals, following the diverse foreign influences of Tang China, including Indian Buddhism. For the Song literati, the Confucian principle of studying the past to enrich the present became a guiding ethos. Collecting and studying archaic bronzes emerged as a mark of refined taste, symbolising erudition, moral integrity, and a connection to the esteemed traditions of antiquity. Literati scholars meticulously documented these ancient artefacts in illustrated catalogues such as the Xuanhe Bogu Tu, to preserve and disseminate their knowledge. Their fascination with antiquity influenced other art forms, including ceramics, where potters began emulating the forms and motifs of ancient bronzes, imbuing them with new materials and techniques.

This reverence for antiquity is elegantly reflected in the present lot, a qingbai-glazed cong vessel. The form of the cong, originally associated with Neolithic jade ritual objects and later adopted into bronze vessels, embodies the literati's deep-seated appreciation for historical continuity. The translucent, icy-blue qingbai glaze adds a luminous quality to the piece, transforming an ancient form into a delicate and refined ceramic interpretation. By combining a venerable shape with the technical and aesthetic advancements of Song dynasty ceramic production, this cong vessel stands as a testament to the enduring dialogue between past and present in Chinese art.

See a related qingbai glazed cong vase, Yuan dynasty, in the Chongqing zhongguo Three Gorges Museum, (acc.no.1119). Compare with a related Longquan celadon-glazed cong vase, Song dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, Palace Museum Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, pp.108-109, no.97. Another related Longquan celadon-glazed vase in the form of a cong, Yuan dynasty, is illustrated by D.Failla, Food for the Ancestors, Flowers for the Gods, Genoa, 2018, p.185, fig.5.