China, 1127-1279. Finely potted with rounded, faceted sides rising gracefully from a short, tapered foot, the vessel is covered overall, including the base, in a thick, opaque glaze of soft grayish tone, suffused with an intricate network of iron-wire crackle and golden threads. The unglazed, neatly carved foot rim reveals the characteristic chocolate-brown ware.

Provenance: Bonhams London, 10 May 2021, lot 76, sold for GBP 287,750 or approx. EUR 415,000 (converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). Jules Speelman, London, United Kingdom, acquired from the above. A copy of a provenance letter signed by Jules Speelman, confirming the dating above, accompanies this lot. In their auction catalogue, Bonhams dated the present lot to the 18th century and assigned a notably low estimate, which was quickly surpassed by an enthusiastic audience of bidders—many of whom evidently believed the piece to be of an earlier date. Jules Speelman, a world-renowned dealer and collector of East Asian art, has over 60 years of experience. He joined his late father, Alfred, in 1964, continuing a family business that dates back three generations to 19th-century Holland and later expanded to England. Originally dealing in European antiques, A & J Speelman gradually shifted its focus to Asian art, particularly figurative sculpture and works of art from the past 2,000 years. Under Jules Speelman’s direction, the firm is now among the foremost in the field. In 2024, the 28-lot sale of the Jules Speelman Collection at Bonhams totaled €15.2 million, far exceeding its €4.2 million estimate. Asaph Hyman, Global Head of Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art at Bonhams, praised Speelman as “one of the greatest and most respected dealers and collectors,” renowned for his keen eye for rarity and quality.
Condition: Superb condition with minor old wear, minimal firing irregularities, and few minute scratches to the foot.

Weight: 123.5 g
Dimensions: Width 8.9 cm

With an associated padded silk storage box. (2)

Ge ware is one of the most celebrated wares of Chinese ceramics, along with the first 'official' 'Ru', and the extensively copied Guan. According to Regina Krahl in her discussion of this group in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, Vol. 1, p. 213, “Originally, the term Ge, often mentioned in classical Chinese literature, may have been applied to a distinct ware from a specific but unidentified kiln; later, however, it appears to have turned into a connoisseurs' term for wares with certain features.” In China, two poetic terms are associated with this ware: ‘purple mouth and iron foot’ (zikou tiezu), which signifies a dark brown body color, and ‘golden threads and iron wires’ (jinsi tiexian), which refers to two overlapping types of crackle, a delicate reddish and a prominent blackish one, as seen on our example.

The high regard in which such pieces were held by the great Qing dynasty imperial collector, the Qianlong Emperor, is demonstrated by the fact that Ge ware dishes appear in several informal portraits of the Emperor. One such portrait is the famous painting entitled 'One or Two?', of which there are three versions in the Palace Museum, Beijing. The Qianlong Emperor is shown seated on a daybed in front of a screen on which is hung a portrait of himself, and surrounded by precious objects from his famous collection of antiques. One of these is a small crackled dish which appears to be Ge ware. The admiration of the Qianlong Emperor for Ge wares can also be seen in the inscriptions that he applied to pieces in his collection, see for example a poem composed by the Emperor in 1785, which he had incised into the rim of a Ge vase now in the British Museum:

“Despite the pattern of hundreds of intermingling crackle lines, its texture is fine and smooth to the touch. This is the work of the talented Elder Brother. One discovers that the value of these undecorated wares is the same as that of unpolished gems. How could one compare this and the more elaborate products of Xuan(de) and Cheng(hua)? Each has its own individual charm.” See the Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1999, no. 94.

Examination of the Qianlong inscriptions further highlights the subject on which there has been considerable debate among scholars and connoisseurs – the difficulty of determining whether a particular piece should be described as Guan or Ge ware. Traditionally it is said that Ge ware acquired its name from the Chinese term gege (the Elder Brother referenced in Qianlong’s poem above), since it was believed to have been made by the elder of the two Zhang brothers. Distinguishing between Ge and Guan ware is not greatly aided by the historical texts, which merely say that they looked similar to one another. A symposium held by the Shanghai Museum in October 1992 brought together all the leading Song ceramic scholars from China and abroad to discuss Ge ware and the ways to distinguish it from Guan ware.

However, the debate regarding exact period of production and kiln site still rages. In light of the excavations carried out at the Xiuneisi kiln at Laohudong, some Chinese archaeologists now suggest that, like Guan ware, these beautiful and refined Ge wares may have been made at kilns just outside the walls of the Southern Song palace at Hangzhou, while others suggest that they may have been made at kilns nearer to the center of Longquan production. While no unanimity of opinion was reached, it was generally thought that those wares with a double jinsi tiexian crackle should be designated 'Ge'. See Rosemary Scott, Guan or Ge Ware?, Oriental Art, Summer 1993, pp. 12-23.

The delicate, octagonal form of this cup, raised on a short foot, can be found in various wares of the Song dynasty. See, for example, a Qingbai cup of this shape illustrated by Jan Wirgin in Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, p. 164, no. 530, and the Longquan celadon cup of this form in the collection of the Shanghai Museum illustrated in Longquan yao yanjiu (The Research of Longquan Kiln), Beijing, 2011, p. 53, pl. 5. The faceted shape of this cup suggests that it was based on a metal prototype, such as a Southern Song gilt-silver octagonal cup illustrated in Zhongguo Meishu Quanji (The Great Treasure of Chinese Fine Arts), vol. 10: Gongyi Meishu Bian (Works of Art and Craft), Beijing, 1987, no. 95, p. 45, with full description on p. 27.

Literature comparison:
See a closely related Ge octagonal cup, attributed to the Southern Song dynasty, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, included in Selection of Ge Ware: The Palace Museum Collection and Archaeological Discoveries, Beijing, 2017, cat. no. 61, together with microscopic views and a chemical analysis of the glaze, p. 150. Compare a related Guan wine cup, 8 cm diameter, dated to the Song dynasty, in the Cleveland Museum of Art, accession number 1957.71. Compare a closely related Ge lobed cup, 8.2 cm diameter, dated to the Yuan dynasty, from the Percival David Foundation and now in the British Museum, registration number PDF,A.52.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s London, 14 May 2008, lot 309
Price: GBP 222,500 or approx. EUR 494,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A fine and rare ‘ge’ flower-shaped bowl, Southern Song dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related glaze of similar color and jinsi tiexian crackle, as well as the related form with similar rounded sides supported on a short foot with unglazed rim. Note the size (7.6 cm).

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 1 April 2018, lot 3046
Price: HKD 6,720,000 or approx. EUR 939,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: An extremely rare Geyao square brush washer, Southern Song dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related glaze of similar color and jinsi tiexian crackle. Note the size (6.7 cm) and different form, with spur marks to the base in place of the present lot’s unglazed foot rim.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s London, 15 May 2012, lot 403
Price: GBP 825,250 or approx. EUR 1,621,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare small Ge-type lobed bowl, Southern Song
Expert remark: Compare the related glaze, form, and size (8 cm).

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