Description

A 'Hare's Fur' Jian Ware Tea Bowl, Of yankou wan shape, the deep flaring sides with gently inverted rim covered inside and out with a lustrous black glaze finely streaked with russet 'hare's fur' markings thinning to russet at the rim and pooling in a line with thick droplets above the shallow foot ring exposing the coarse ware. Song Dynasty, 12th-13th Century, Height: 2 3/8 inches (6 cm); Diameter: 4 3/4 inches (12.1 cm) [Chip to mouth rim. This condition report states major condition issues only.] Note:A very similar tea bowl of the same shape and almost identical size (12.4 cm), also with 'hare's fur' markings, although with a slightly lighter body color, is in the collection of the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Harvard University Art Museum, and is illustrated by Robert D. Mowry in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, p. 213-214, no. 79. On p. 214, the author explains that the steeply pitched wall of the yankou wan bowls serves to make them easy for the tea drinker to hold and the indented rims were created to accommodate the drinker's lips and fingers.