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In the studies of Song dynasty scholars, on the offering tables before Buddhist statues, in the murals of banquets, and within unearthed hoards, a certain vase appears again and again. It has no elaborate ornamentation, no flamboyant form, yet it was repeatedly celebrated in the poetry of the Song and Yuan dynasties, eagerly fired by craftsmen in kilns both north and south, and combined by literati and artists with plum blossoms, incense burners, and writing desks into one ideal scene of life after another. This vase is called the danping——a name derived from its shape, which sounds plain but conceals the aesthetic code of an entire era.

Line drawing of the spirit way pillar at the tomb of Xiao Jing, Liang dynasty

Mural from the tomb of Princess Changle of Zhaoling

Image source: Song Dynasty Flower Vases - Yang Zhishui

What does a danping look like?

The people of the Song dynasty explained it clearly. Xu Jing wrote in the Xuanhe Fengshi Gaoli Tujing: “The form of the flower vase is pointed above and round below, roughly like a hanging gall.” Yang Wanli wrote in a poem: “A silver vase of gall shape, a plum of jade.” Lou Yue also wrote: “A new porcelain of hanging-gall form comes from the Ru kiln.” Small at the top and large at the bottom, with a gentle curve from neck to belly and a belly that hangs slightly like a gall——these are the three most essential features of the danping. Scholars have accordingly proposed two parameters, the “neck-to-belly ratio” and the “shoulder-tapering rate.” Among a large number of excavated objects, the neck-to-belly ratio of classic danping vessels mostly falls between 0.18 and 0.4, while the shoulder-tapering rate ranges from 0.26 to 0.35. Behind these figures lies the precise control of proportion by Song and Yuan craftsmen.

Left: schematic illustration of a black pig's gall

Right: schematic illustration of neck-to-belly ratio and shoulder-tapering rate

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Danping - Huang Kangming

Danping

The “four brothers” of the danping family

The danping is not a single type but a family. Based on differences in mouth, neck, foot, and decoration, four subtypes can be distinguished.

The first is the classic danping, characterized by a straight mouth, slender neck, gall-shaped hanging belly, and a ring foot that is either straight or slightly flared. The Southern Song Jingdezhen qingbai porcelain danping unearthed in Qianshan, Anhui, is thirty-three centimeters tall, with a glaze that is white with a bluish tinge, lustrous and bright; the incised danping from a Southern Song hoard in Kaixian, Chongqing, has banana-leaf patterns on the neck and a body carved with a boy playing among peonies; these objects vary in size and come from different kilns, yet all maintain the same elegant proportions, becoming what people today regard as the “standard” danping style.

LeftSouthern Song Jingdezhen qingbai-glazed danping

RightSouthern Song Carved Cong Vase

Image source: A Brief Study of Cong Vases of the Song and Yuan Dynasties - Huang Kangming

SouthSong Dynasty Official Kiln Cong Vase

2023 Christie's New York

Sale price: 2,580,000 USD

The second type is the pear-shaped vase. Its name sounds more poetic, but during the Song and Yuan dynasties, it was the same thing as the cong vase. The Yuan dynasty sanqu writer Feng Zizhen wrote, "“I draw clear spring water to fill the cong vase,”" and the monk Mingben of the same era responded in a matching poem, "“I only worry the cold will freeze the jade pot spring.”" Their call and response refer to the same vessel. The pear-shaped vase is characterized by a thinner and longer neck, with a slightly flared mouth, forming a graceful "S" shape. Its neck-to-body ratio is smaller (about 0.18), and its shoulder-tapering rate is greater (about 0.34), with a thinner neck and more sloped shoulders. These vases are mostly around thirty centimeters in height; the long neck makes them easy to grip, suitable for moving around to pour wine during banquets.

Jin Dynasty, Shanxi Huozhou Kiln White-Glazed Pear-Shaped Vase

Collection of Taihua Guxuan

Jin Dynasty, Shanxi White-Glazed Pear-Shaped Vase

Former Collection of Meiyintang

Image source: A Brief Study of Cong Vases of the Song and Yuan Dynasties - Huang Kangming

Yuan Dynasty Longquan Kiln Celadon Brown-Spotted Pear-Shaped Vase

Sale Price :3,940,000 HKD

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Danping - Huang Kangming

Characteristics of the Pear-Shaped Vase Porcelain Unearthed from the Zhang Rong Family Cemetery

The third type is the goose-neck vase. Its neck is thicker than that of the pear-shaped vase (neck-to-body ratio approximately 0.3), and its belly is rounder and more bulbous. The sky-blue glazed carved goose-neck vase unearthed from the Ru Kiln site of the Song Dynasty stands 19.6 centimeters tall, with a sky-blue glaze and carved folded-branch lotus patterns; the large goose-neck vase unearthed from the Southern Song official kiln site in Hangzhou stands 36.8 centimeters tall, with a rice-yellow glaze covered in ice-crackle patterns. This name first appeared in the Southern Song Dynasty, and Dong Sigao wrote in a poem, “Goose-neck kiln vase holds green branches.” The goose-neck vase and the pear-shaped vase are similar in form and easily confused, but to respect the naming conventions of the ancients, it is more appropriate to keep them separate.

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Danping - Huang Kangming

The fourth type is the chopstick vase. Its most prominent feature is a thick neck (neck-to-body ratio mostly greater than 0.4), and the neck is relatively long, accounting for about one-half to two-thirds of the entire vessel. “箸” means chopsticks, and the chopstick vase is a vessel used to hold chopsticks and spoons. The Yuan scholar Kong Qi recorded the customs of the Song Dynasty: “In the late Song, when great families held banquets, on the tables there were always chopstick vases and waste vessels.” The Longquan Kiln celadon chopstick vase unearthed from the Southern Song tomb of Ren Xijing in Wuhan, Hubei, stands 14.3 centimeters tall; the gold chopstick vase unearthed from the Yuan Dynasty tomb of Yang Jie and his wife in Zunyi, Guizhou, demonstrates that this “bottle for holding chopsticks” held a rather high status in aristocratic life. In Song Dynasty incense culture, the chopstick vase was equally indispensable——together with the incense burner and incense box, it formed the incense-burning vessel set, used to hold incense spoons and fire tongs. This combination was later refined by Ming and Qing literati into the “Three Items of the Stove and Vase,” becoming a cultural symbol referring to incense culture.

Gold chopstick vase unearthed from the Yuan Dynasty tomb of Yang Jie and his wife in Zunyi, Guizhou

Longquan Kiln celadon chopstick vase unearthed from the Southern Song tomb of Ren Xijing in Wuhan, Hubei

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Danping - Huang Kangming

Southern Song mural “Kitchen Preparation and Offering”

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Danping - Huang Kangming

Where did the danping come from?

The origins of the gall-bladder vase can be traced back to an even earlier period. Bronze hu vessels from the late Warring States period already displayed a form with "a slightly flared mouth, a long neck, sloping shoulders, and a belly resembling a hanging gall bladder," as exemplified by the bronze hu with a chain handle unearthed in Tengzhou, Shandong. Han dynasty pottery vases evolved further; a Western Han painted pottery vase unearthed in Xinzhou, Wuhan, already featured a dish-shaped mouth, a slender neck, and a bulging belly. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, the eastward spread of Buddhism brought a new custom of offering flowers in vases. In the Northern Wei reliefs at the Longmen Grottoes, a lotus-holding vase is offered to the right of Prince Siddhartha, with a lipped mouth, a slender neck, and a belly like a hanging gall bladder. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, porcelain vases and ewers were produced in large quantities. A brown-glazed yuhuchun vase unearthed from a Sui dynasty tomb in Jingxian, Hebei, is already very close to the Song-Yuan gall-bladder vase; a domestically made green glass vase unearthed from the Tang dynasty tomb of Li Tai proves that Tang dynasty craftsmen had already mastered the craft of making glass gall-bladder vases.

Warring States bronze hu with chain handle

Scene of offering flowers in a vase at the Longmen Grottoes

Tang dynasty green glass vase

Image source: A Brief Study of Song-Yuan Gall-Bladder Vases - Huang Kangming

What were gall-bladder vases used for?

The functions of the gall-bladder vase went far beyond the category of the "flower vase." In sacrificial offerings, it appeared in combinations——paired vases, vase-and-censer sets, three offerings, and five offerings. In the Western Xia murals at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang, the disciples on either side of the preaching Buddha each hold a lotus-holding yuhuchun vase; in the "Kaifang Banquet" depicted in the brick carvings of a Jin dynasty tomb in Houma, Shanxi, a vase of flowers is placed on each side of the tomb-owner couple; a complete set of three offering vessels in the form of official-kiln gall-bladder vases was unearthed from the Yuan dynasty tomb of the Ren family in Qingpu, Shanghai. Even in ordinary households, it was customary during the Dragon Boat Festival that "flowers must not be absent from offerings," and placing a vase of flowers in a small jar was also a custom.

Western Xia murals at the Mogao Caves in Dunhuang

Image source: A Brief Study of Song-Yuan Gall-Bladder Vases - Huang Kangming

Carvings on the wall of the tomb. /Chinanews

The "Kaifang Banquet" depicted in the brick carvings of a Jin dynasty tomb in Houma, Shanxi

Unearthed from the Yuan dynasty tomb of the Ren family in Qingpu, Shanghai

Image source: A Brief Study of Song-Yuan Gall-Bladder Vases - Huang Kangming

Yuan dynasty Jingdezhen cobalt-blue three offering vessels

Unearthed from a Yuan dynasty hoard in Fanchang District, Wuhu City, Anhui Province

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Gallbladder Vases - Huang Kangming

In the realm of elegant offerings and refined appreciation, the gallbladder vase was the object closest to daily life on a literatus's desk. In Song dynasty poetry, "small vase" and "small gallbladder vase" appear repeatedly, and surviving classic gallbladder vases measuring around fifteen centimeters in height correspond perfectly to these references. Zhang Mingzhong wrote, "I break off a crimson blossom and pin it in a small vase; bringing it to my desk, spring arises of itself." Chen Bifu wrote, "I break a sparse flower myself and insert it in a small vase; with drunken eyes under the bright moon, I read the Sao Jing." They are equally common in Song paintings: on the desk in Liu Songnian's "Conversation at the Stream Pavilion" sits a flower-holding gallbladder vase; at one end of the desk in Su Hanchen's "A Hundred Children of Eternal Spring" stands a flower-holding gallbladder vase; and in Ma Lin's "Lin Hejing," a boy attendant carries a gallbladder vase of plum blossoms accompanying the recluse.

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Gallbladder Vases - Huang Kangming

Among food and drink vessels, the gallbladder vase likewise played an important role. As a wine vessel, the pear-shaped yuhuchun vase appears frequently in Song and Yuan murals and hoards. In the "Offering Wine" mural from a Jin dynasty tomb in Jiaozuo, Henan, an attendant cradles a yuhuchun vase to present wine; in a Jin dynasty mural tomb in Lingchuan, Shanxi, one attendant holds a urging tray while another cradles a yuhuchun vase. The long-necked yuhuchun vase was easy to grip and move, making it suitable for preparing and delivering wine in different spaces. Even more interestingly, it could be used directly for warming wine——in a Yuan dynasty tomb mural in Dongcun, Yangquan, Shanxi, a male attendant places a yuhuchun vase inside a cauldron to warm wine. After distilled liquor became popular in the Yuan dynasty, the combination of the yuhuchun vase, tray-and-cup (or stem cup), and he vessel became a new paradigm of wine vessels, repeatedly confirmed by hoard finds across various regions.

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Gallbladder Vases - Huang Kangming

Yuan dynasty tomb mural in Dongcun, Yangquan, Shanxi

Image source: A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Gallbladder Vases - Huang Kangming

One Bottle, One Era

Looking back over the entire history of the gallbladder vase, from its prototype in Warring States bronze hu vessels, to its evolution into Han dynasty ceramic bottles, to the intervention of Buddhist offerings during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, to the maturation of Sui and Tang porcelain bottles, and then to its full flourishing in the Song and Yuan periods, it has traveled a long road. One end of this road connects to the formative traditions of ancient bronzes, while the other connects to every detail of Song and Yuan literati daily life——offerings of flowers before the Buddha, pure offerings in the study, wine cups presented at banquets, and the cultivation of incense practices. The gallbladder vase is captivating not only because of its graceful curves and exquisite proportions, but also because it carries within it a era's ways of belief, social etiquette, aesthetic taste, and life wisdom. Today, as we stand before a museum display case, looking through the glass at a celadon-and-white glazed gallbladder vase or a blue-and-white yuhuchun vase, what we see is not merely a piece of porcelain, but the breath of a dynasty, the lives of a group of people, and the elegance and composure of a civilization.

This article is mainly based on the paper "A Brief Study of Song and Yuan Dynasty Gallbladder Vases - Huang Kangming"