Sky-Blue-Glazed Chrysanthemum-Petal Dish with Foliate Rim

This shape began in gold and silver. Tang dynasty metalsmiths hammered dishes like this into petals, a luxury only the richest could own. A few centuries later, Song potters took the same form and remade it in clay, trading the shine of metal for the quiet glow of jade.

Every petal is moulded, not painted. Where the glaze runs thin over each ridge it turns pale; where it pools in the grooves between them it deepens to blue. So the whole chrysanthemum is drawn by nothing but the thickness of the glaze, opening from the lobed rim to a little whirling flower at the centre.

The glaze is tianqing, sky blue, softly opaque, with tiny bubbles inside and a fine crackle on the surface. The dish is glazed all over, even the foot, and was fired resting on three tiny spurs that left "sesame-seed" marks on the base.

19 cm across, 5 cm high. Attributed to Ru ware, Northern Song.

The dish has a foliate, or chrysanthemum-petal, rim with a gently folded flange, the edge articulated by a continuous series of radiating petal lobes. The interior wall follows the contours of the rim, with raised vertical ribs radiating inward from each lobe. The centre is subtly recessed, above a shallow body with a broad, flat base.

The form derives from the foliate-rimmed gold and silver dishes of the Tang dynasty. Its softly articulated contours and restrained modelling, free from sharply defined angles, exemplify the Song dynasty taste for ceramic vessels inspired by precious-metal prototypes.

The vessel is entirely covered in Ru ware’s characteristic opaque sky-blue glaze. The relatively thin glaze layer has a soft, warm lustre reminiscent of clarified butter. The delicate sky-blue tone results from the reduction of iron-bearing compounds during firing. Minute bubbles and partially dissolved quartz particles are visible within the glaze, while the surface is traversed by naturally occurring fine crackle, traditionally likened to “cicada-wing” crackle.

The chrysanthemum-petal ribs are formed through the modelling of the vessel itself rather than painted decoration. The raised ridges, where the glaze is thinner, appear slightly paler, while the recessed channels accumulate glaze and develop subtly deeper blue tones. The resulting modulation of colour and translucency creates the decorative hierarchy through variations in glaze thickness, exemplifying the Ru ware aesthetic of achieving visual refinement through the glaze itself rather than through vivid painted ornament.

The chrysanthemum-petal foliate rim evokes the flower’s traditional associations with elegance, purity, and moral integrity. The archaizing form, derived from earlier gold and silver vessels, reflects the refined taste of the Song-dynasty elite.

Ru ware was produced for the court and is distinguished by its pursuit of a jade-like material quality. Rather than relying on elaborate ornament, Ru ware favours restrained forms and subtle surfaces, expressing the Song aesthetic ideal of valuing jade through the harmony of form, proportion, and luminous glaze.

The vessel was fired using the characteristic fully glazed firing-support technique associated with official Ru ware, leaving three small “sesame-seed” spur marks on the base. The glaze surface is covered throughout with naturally occurring fine crackle, traditionally described as “cicada-wing” crackle. The foot ring is fully glazed, with no exposed porcelain body, a characteristic feature of the bases of Northern Song Ru ware vessels made for the imperial court.