Search for a cup holder's identity
Updated: 2013-10-05 00:33
By Zhang Zixuan (China Daily)
|
|||||||||
|
One section of The Scholar Meeting (Wen Hui Tu), painted by the Huizong emperor of the Song Dynasty, now in the collection of Taipei’s Palace Museum. |
Ru Kiln's rare works
The Ru Kiln was situated in what is today's Henan province and was the producer of porcelain for the imperial court during the late Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127), and famed for its glittering, exquisite celadon finish.
Curiously, the kiln only operated for 20 years, but, obviously, it is exactly this short existence that makes its products so dear. Today there are only about 80 pieces of its work in existence, of which a mere five belong to private collectors.
The cup holder is a stand for various types of tea cups, and many kilns, including the five major ones, used to make these.
One example can be seen on The Scholar Meeting (Wen Hui Tu), painted by the Huizong emperor (1082-1135) of the Song Dynasty, now in Taipei's Palace Museum. It shows a scene of a tea forum, where the white tea bowls are clearly supported by black porcelain stands from the Ding Kiln.
However, the type of Northern-Song flower-shaped cup holder from the Ru Kiln is a rare item, Mao says, and the only one even remotely similar to the auctioned one belongs to the Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, in the UK, in a permanent British Museum exhibition.
Mao says he believes the two cup holders are brothers, or sisters, from the same kiln — the Ru Kiln, in the village of the Qingliang Temple, Henan province.
His reasoning has been supported by science, in this case X-ray fluorescence, which showed that it tallied with porcelain samples from the ruins of the Qingliang Temple kiln.
Similar methods also suggest a marked difference between this ware and Korean celadon, where the amounts of ferrum, silicon, and potassium are markedly higher than those of this cup holder, indicating that they use two different kinds of materials.
- Victoria Beckham S/S 2014 presented during NYFW
- 'Despicable' minions upset Depp's 'Lone Ranger' at box office
- 'Taken 2' grabs movie box office crown
- Rihanna's 'Diamonds' tops UK pop chart
- Fans get look at vintage Rolling Stones
- Celebrities attend Power of Women event
- Ang Lee breaks 'every rule' to make unlikely new Life of Pi film
- Rihanna almost thrown out of nightclub
Most Viewed
Editor's Picks
Xi visits Indonesia, Malaysia, attends APEC Summit |
National Day holidays around the world |
News in review (Sept. 27- Oct.3) |
It's been a panda-ful year |
Investing a nation's wealth wisely |
Foul air rises over landfill expansion |
Today's Top News
US military conducts successful missile defense test
US House Speaker says US needs to address spending problem
Trending news across China on Oct 4
President Xi meets Malaysian PM on ties
DC shutdown gets social media all in a twitter
Hotels aside, AVIC needs to grow its service arm
Gunfire forces brief lockdown at US Capitol
Mutual help the best: IMF chief
US Weekly
Geared to go |
The place to be |