Black-Glazed Teabowl with Incised Characters (供御) for “Imperial Tribute” (1100s–1200s): Art, History and Details

Black-Glazed Teabowl with Incised Characters (供御) for “Imperial Tribute” (1100s–1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Teabowls with incised characters are rare. The characters 供御 (gongyu; “imperial tribute”) incised on the base of this bowl suggest that it was local annual tribute ware presented to the court. The abrasions on its rim indicate the cup was originally mounted with a metal ring that has been removed. Teacups, occasionally dressed with metal bands to cover the rough, thinly glazed lip, enhanced the experience of tasting tea and rendered the bowl more precious and appealing. When steeped tea leaves were introduced in China, dark-glazed bowls fell out of favor, but such bowls continued to be treasured in Japan where powdered tea (matcha) remained popular.

Object facts

• Title: Black-Glazed Teabowl with Incised Characters (供御) for “Imperial Tribute”
• Date: 1100s–1200s
• Culture: China, Fujian Province, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Brown-glazed stoneware, Jian ware
• Dimensions: Overall: 6.5 x 12 cm (2 9/16 x 4 3/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Song Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2020.175

A detail from the museum

Jian ware was commonly associated with tea drinking and tasting, as the light color of tea contrasted nicely with the dark glazes of the ceramics.

Collection credit

Nancy F. and Joseph P. Keithley Collection Gift

Further reading listed by the museum

• Zhu, Yan 朱琰, Stephen W. Bushell, and François Xavier Dentrecolles. Description of Chinese Pottery and Porcelain; Being a Translation of the Tao Shuo 陶說. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
• 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.