10. A large moulded Yaozhou water-flower pattern bowl

The bowl is finely potted with deep rounded sides springing from a low well-finished footrim. The interior is crisply moulded with a central flowerhead of radiating petals encircled around the well by six further flower-heads, seen alternately head-on and from the side, all borne on a scrolling stem on a ground of dense foliage. The exterior is decorated with radiating lines, perhaps suggesting overlapping petals. The glaze, which covers the bowl inside and out, is of light translucent olive-green colour, pooling in the recesses of the decoration.

Provenance:
English private collection
 

The floral decoration of bowls of this type is difficult to identify and is often wrongly described as peony or chrysanthemum. Jan Wirgin, in his seminal work Sung Ceramic Designs, p. 24, describes the foliage as a “sickle-leaf scroll” and suggests that the plant depicted is a kind of water-plant. 

耀州窯印花纏枝水生花卉紋盌

Dimensions: Diameter: 21 cm, 8 ¼ inches

Date: Northern Song dynasty (960-1279)