Black Glazed Teabowl (1100s–1200s): Art, History and Details

Black Glazed Teabowl (1100s–1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This teabowl exhibits a shiny almost mirror-black, thick glaze that runs down from the mouth showing fine, bluish-brown streaks around the rim. The Northern Song dynasty emperor Huizong (徽宗, reigned 1100–1126) once referred to the markings as “hare’s fur.” The emperor also remarked that Jian bowls should be deep and wide to allow tea powder to be whisked sufficiently in the bowl. The contrast between the tea’s white foam and the dark glaze was appreciated by connoisseurs. The thick walls and conical shape of the bowls were ideal for keeping tea hot and frothy.

Object facts

• Title: Black Glazed Teabowl
• Date: 1100s–1200s
• Culture: China, Fujian province, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Stoneware with opaque dark brown glaze, Jian ware
• Dimensions: Overall: 5.3 x 14 cm (2 1/16 x 5 1/2 in.)
• Collection: China - Song Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2020.176

A detail from the museum

Jian ware was made in Fujian province, first in kilns at Jian’an and later at Jianyang.

Collection credit

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift

Further reading listed by the museum

• Von Spee, Clarissa. "Chinese Ceramics and Works on Paper." In The Keithley Collection at the Cleveland Museum of Art, edited by Heather Lemonedes Brown, 194–229. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2022.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.