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Museum Collection Exhibition

Introduction to Chinese Ceramics

September 15, Thursday- October 23, Sunday, 2016

<strong>Introduction to Chinese Ceramics</strong> Image

Overview

Dates September 15, Thursday- October 23, Sunday, 2016
Closed Mondays
Hours 10 am to 5 pm（Entrance closes 30 min. before closing）
General admission (On-line timed-entry tickets) Adult 1100 yen, Student 800 yen
Gallery 1

“Chinese ceramics”: What comes to mind when you hear those words? In the course of China’s eight thousand years of history, ceramics have been produced in all parts of its vast land, their forms, glazes, and motifs varying significantly over time. While tracing that historical development, this exhibition includes ceramics that have long been treasured in Japan as karamono, objects from China. Experiencing the ninety examples on display, including four Important Cultural Properties is a delightful opportunity to gain an overall view of Chinese ceramics.

Gallery Exhibits

  • Important Art Object

Tea BowlJian ware, Yōhen-Tenmoku type

  • China Southern Song dynasty, 12th-13th centuries
  • Nezu Museum

Bowls whose glazes had the glistening, iridescent spots known as yōhen were already judged to be the finest of all by the early sixteenth century. This bowl was not, however, regarded as an example of yōhen until the Edo period, when the Maeda clan of the Kaga domain classified it as a yōhen work.

  • Important Cultural Property

VaseCeladon, Longquan ware

  • China Southern Song dynasty, 12th-13th centuries
  • Nezu Museum

This vase, with its graceful form and beautiful glaze, has a thick celadon glaze over a white body. Such elegant blue celadons from the Southern Song dynasty are described as kinuta in Japan and greatly treasured; the Japanese term is now used for such celadons worldwide.

Jar with applied ornaments

  • China Sui dynasty, 6th-7th centuries
  • Nezu Museum

Kin’unThis jar, with its boldly swelling shoulders, has molded motifs of flowers and celestial nymphs applied to it before glazing and firing. Jars of this shape, with a flat mouth and no neck, are rare. The meticulously formed applied motifs on this work, with its exotic atmosphere, suggests that it dates from the Sui dynasty.

Bowl with Three Fruits DesignPorcelain with café-au-lait color glaze, Jingdezhen ware

  • China Qing dynasty, Yongzheng era (1723–1736)

Qing dynasty ceramics saw the use of a wide variety of colored glazes. This pale brown or café-au-lait glaze, with its gentle, elegant ambience, is, however, quite rare.