Rare 9" antique Chinese Shiwan kiln pottery bowl with distinctive Shiwan "light blue fish-roe" and "eel yellow" monochrome glazes with mold pressed floral motif. Made, city of Foshan, Guangdong Province, Southern China, 1890 to 1919. Marked "China", the earliest export stamp.

Utilitarian Shiwan pottery from 1890-1919 is relatively rare and significantly more challenging to collect because potters focused on the artistic and sculptural aspects of figurines, rather than the functional aspects of utilitarian ware.
The rarity of utilitarian Shiwan pottery can also be attributed to the fragility of daily-use items, and a lower perceived value at the time, leading to less careful preservation. Museums and collectors have historically focused more on the artistic or decorative aspects of Shiwan ware, overlooking and undervaluing simple, utilitarian pieces.

Chinese Ceramics - Shiwan Porcelain Appreciation.
http://www.zhongguociwang.com/show.aspx?id=7100&cid=153

Some pieces that would never have guessed that were made Shiwan Dawugang, Song Dynasty kilns

Journal of the Palace Museum | Xiao Dashun: A New Understanding of the Archaeological Investigation of Song Dynasty Kiln Sites in Nanhai District, Foshan City: A Discussion on the Origin of Sauce Glaze Ware Unearthed from the "Nanhai I." Shipwreck

https://tinyurl.com/4dj7ajrh





New Insights from the Archaeological Survey of Song Dynasty Kiln Sites in Nanhai District, Foshan
— With Discussion on the Origin of Brown-Glazed Ware from the "Nanhai I" Shipwreck

After the discovery of the strange stone kiln, the systematic investigation of the kiln was carried out due to the need to trace the origin of the Shiwan kiln. From the 1978 Foshan Museum's "Investigation of the Ancient Kiln Site of Shiwan in Guangdong" to the 1980 article "The Origin, Characteristics and Historical Status of Shiwan Ceramics" by the Department of History of Sun Yat-sen University, it is natural to believe that the strange stone kiln belongs to the Shiwan kiln. The former believes that the scope of Shiwan kilns in the Tang and Song dynasties included the current Shiwan Town, Qishi Village, and the area along the Dongping River 15 kilometers between the two places. During the Northern Song Dynasty, the key kiln was in the area of Qishi Village, and later moved to Shiwan. The latter believes that the artifacts of Shiwan kiln and Qishi kiln are extremely consistent in terms of fetal quality, glaze color, and calcination method, and it is almost difficult to distinguish. Among them, a small number of blue-glazed bowls and dishes are also similar to those produced by Damaogang. The strange stone kiln is mainly green and yellow glaze and sauce brown glaze, and there is also a small amount of light green glaze. The raw materials of green and yellow glaze and sauce brown glaze are grass gray and mud, two glaze colors, which have been used in Shiwan to this day. The method of making ear utensils in the strange stone kiln is exactly the same as the practice of Shiwan kiln, all kinds of ears are rubbed into mud strips with mud, bent into an ear shape, and then pasted on the utensils, this ear pasting method belongs to the typical Shiwan style. It can be seen that Shiwan kiln and Qishi kiln are two kiln areas of the same production system, which can be collectively called "Shiwan kiln". Since then, scholars from Sun Yat-sen University, Guangdong Provincial Museum and Foshan Museum, Foshan Ceramic Industry Chronicle published in 1991, as well as relevant scholars from Hong Kong and the Palace Museum, have all believed that the strange stone kiln belongs to the Shiwan kiln, and this conclusion has basically become a consensus in the academic community.

The author believes that due to the insufficient investigation work at that time and the lack of systematic archaeological excavation, the academic community had limited understanding of the development sequence of Qishi kiln and Shiwan kiln in the past, and the above understanding overextended the upper limit of the local inheritance of Shiwan kiln, thus causing confusion in the understanding of the development sequence of the two Song kiln sites in the Pearl River Delta region of Guangdong.

First of all, in the past, scholars believed that the era of Qishi kiln firing should end in the late Northern Song Dynasty or early Southern Song Dynasty, but the Qiandao and Chunxi era sauce glaze jars unearthed from "Nanhai I" show that Qishi kilns were still in production at least in the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty. Even so, the main age of the strange stone kiln firing can be confirmed to be the two Song Dynasty (the beginning of the Tang Dynasty), and there is a certain time fault with the Shiwan kiln that flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties. This fault is not a problem of a gap in archaeological finds. According to the research of Huang Xiaohui and others of the Foshan Museum, the inheritance of Shiwan kiln has the influence of immigrants from the Central Plains during the Song and Yuan dynasties. The author believes that the theme content and decorative style of Shiwan kiln products are obviously different from the strange stone kiln, and they are two ancient kiln sites with different historical and cultural connotations. Moreover, "Shiwan" is famous in the world from the Ming and Qing dynasties to modern times, but the name of "strange stone" is earlier, not only in the "Yuan Dade Nanhai Zhi fragment" and other historical documents can find its name, the kiln site also unearthed the pottery shard of self-inscription "strange stone". Therefore, it is believed that the Shiwan kiln has a certain inheritance of the strange stone kiln, and the similar characteristics can still be found in the types of individual household utensils and some production techniques of the two kilns, but it is biased to say that the strange stone kiln belongs to the Shiwan kiln.

Secondly, although they are on the east bank of the Dongping River, the main distribution areas of the two kiln sites are also divided into north and south. In the early years, the schematic map of the distribution of kiln sites near Shiwan in the "Investigation of Ancient Kiln Sites in Shiwan, Guangdong" has clearly seen the two areas of Qishi and Shiwan. The archaeological work of the ancient kiln site of the Song Dynasty in the Shiwan area is limited, and the cultural relics collected at the kiln site are also very few, but it still clearly belongs to the edge of the strange stone kiln system, and the core area is still in the strange stone area in the north, so the strange stone kiln cannot be attributed to the Shiwan kiln system.

Thirdly, back to the characteristics of the artifacts, the characteristics of the production of ear ears believed by scholars in the early years are not the core technology of the strange stone kiln. The sauce-glazed jar with this kind of ear is the same type unearthed from the "Nanhai I" that the investigation paid close attention to. In addition to the strange stone kiln, more than 20 kilometers to the north, the Wentouling kiln in Lishui Town, Nanhai District, Foshan also fired a large number of such vessels, but the other products fired by the Wentouling kiln are quite different from the strange stone kiln, which is closer to the Xicun kiln in Guangzhou, which is less than 20 kilometers to the southeast. At the same time, a large number of pottery pots were fired in the Qishi kiln (Figure 6), and some of the pottery pots with folded branches on the inner wall and bottom are also similar to the Xicun kiln, which have a certain origin with the two Song kiln sites in the Guangfo area, but we will not include the Wentouling kiln and the Xicun kiln in the Qishi kiln or Shiwan kiln system. In the same way, the strange stone kilns near Shiwan should not be included in the Shiwan kiln system, and the independent distinction not only does not affect the production and trade status of Shiwan kiln ceramics in the Ming and Qing dynasties, but is also more conducive to the research and discussion of the kiln system and its development sequence in the Guangzhou-Foshan area.

Eastern long neck Spot-billed ducks in unglazed biscuit, using regional Shiwan potters "hair-incised" technique, perched on rocks with significant bubble bursts in a distinctive Shiwan monochrome white glaze, creatively imitating foaming beach water. Stamped "China" (the earliest export stamp) 1890 to 1919. Shiwan kilns, Foshan, Guangdong Province, Southern China.

This Guangxu to Republic period 1875 to 1949 saw the appearance of famous next generation Shiwan potters of the famous Huang Bing (1815 - 1894), like Chen Weiyan, Pan Yushu, Huang Guzhen, Wang Ping, Liu Zuochao, Pan Tiekui, Wang Laining, Huo Jin, Liang Fu and others.

Chen Weiyan was known to copy his mentor Huang Bing techniques. Both are known for their animal figures. Especially, beautifully detailed ducks that were a favorite subject of these potters and repeated by many succeeding artists.
This pair of ducks show striking similarities to Huang Bing and Chen Weiyan styles and likely sculpted by next generation, succeeding students, or even family members who were Shiwan potters during Gaungxu/Republic Period. A few include, Huo Tao, Liao Kunpei, Zhu Qian, Liao Song, Ou Da Ji, Shi An and others who were all influenced or mentored by Huang Bing and Chen Weiyan, imitating both their style and techniques for ducks.

Reference:
1) Shiwan Wares, (catalogue of an exhibition of Shiwan Wares).
2) A Study Of Shiwan Pottery, (Department of Fine Arts, University Of Hong Kong).

Comparison Examples:
1) National Museum Of History https://tinyurl.com/353ry5j9
2) Coronari Auctions https://tinyurl.com/3ry23w87
3) Rob Michiels Auctions https://tinyurl.com/324ysf52
4) Shiwan Wares Exhibition Catalogue, p.73, Plate 128 and p.70, Plate 126.
5) Gathering Of Earthly Gods, (Shiwan Wares from the Collections of the International Shiwan Ceramics Association) p.106, Plate 88. Incised mark, "Yunyu Shi"  (Alias/Pseudonym for Huang Bing).

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