. Excavated from a kiln site in the Jingdezhen area of Jiangxi province. The saggar contains a fine-quality porcelain bowl with incised pattern that is coated in a crackled pale greenish-blue Qingbai glaze. Some catastrophe has clearly occurred during firing which has caused the dish to overheat, to sag and warp, resulting in the glaze around much of its rim coming into contact with the wall of the saggar and fusing the two together. There is also a fragment of another bowl fused to the saggar’s underside. Note also the build up of ash glaze to the outer wall of the saggar; such saggars were used time and time again with the ash glaze becoming thicker and thicker with each firing. Diameter 14.5cm. Song Dynasty (AD 960 – 1279).
Provenance: from the collection of the late Brian Page (1938-2018), the well-known Oriental art and antiques dealer from Brighton.