Tea Bowl (1100s–1200s): Art, History and Details

Tea Bowl (1100s–1200s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Due to its exceptional size, this Fujian tea bowl is rather rare. The enjoyment of Jian ware rests with the glaze transmutation due to iron in the glaze, which developed into reddish-brown streaks and spots against a rich black glaze after firing. Connoisseurs called these iron formations "hare’s fur" marks, and the ware was very popular with the tea cultures in China and Japan.

Object facts

• Title: Tea Bowl
• Date: 1100s–1200s
• Culture: China, Fujian province, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Stoneware with black “hare’s fur” glaze and metal-bound rim, Jian ware
• Dimensions: Diameter: 17.8 cm (7 in.); Overall: 8.7 cm (3 7/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Song Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1948.206

A detail from the museum

The reddish-brown streaks and spots have been affectionately termed "hare's fur" among connoisseurs.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. Tea Taste in Japanese Art. New York, NY: The Asia House Gallery, dist. by H. Abrams, 1963.
• Neils, Jenifer. The World of Ceramics: Masterpieces from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Museum in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1982.
• Griswold, William, Xiaofei Tian, Richard Von Glahn, Feng Zhao, S. J. Vainker, Masaaki Itakura, Jiang Wu, et al. China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. Edited by Clarissa Von Spee. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2023.

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.