H: 20 cm
Possibly imperial, most likely made at the official kilns in Jingdezhen.
Provenance: A Dutch private collection
Estimate: 6.000 - 8.000
The Ge kilns have always been a mystery in the history of ceramics. Although authentic Ge porcelain wares are on display in the Beijing Palace Museum, Shanghai Museum and the Palace Museum of Taipei and so on, there is no surviving documentation from the Song dynasty, nor had any kiln sites ever been identified.
From existing Ge ware, we see all kinds of stoves, vases and dishes, including tripod cauldrons, cauldrons with fish-shaped handles, cauldron with glazed feet and double handles, cylindrical vases, thin-necked urns, bet bodied plates and so on, mostly imitating the design of ritualistic bronze ware, usually intended for court use. Thus it had common elements with Ru and Imperial kilns but was very different from porcelain for the common people.
The most distinguished feature of Ge porcelain ware would be its crackling patterns. The surface of the glaze displays natural patterns such as ice-crackles, fine crackles, or fish egg crackles and so forth. The areas enclosed within the cracks can vary from the size of large chunks of ice to speckles as small as fish eggs. The actual crackle lines also vary in width and can be filled in with different colors such as black, gold or red. This effect is sometimes referred to as €œgold and iron threads€. The crackling in the glaze is caused by differences in the degree of expansion of various parts of the glaze. This was originally an imperfection in technology, but was taken advantage of by porcelain artisans and made into added aesthetic element.
The vase bears an inscription: "Feng Yue Fei", freely translated as "Respectfully presented to the imperial concubine". Imperial Concubines made up the fifth and last limited rank in the imperial harem, which was composed of just four women. The first four were the Empress (only one in the harem), the Imperial Noble Consort (only one in the harem), the Noble Consort (only two in the harem), the Consorts (only four in the harem).