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Striking patterns, unusual glazing techniques adorn Chinese ceramics to be displayed at UNC

By ANDY BERNER
Ackland Art Museum

CHAPEL HILL -- From 960 to 1368, the arts flourished in China. Patronage by the ruling classes, the educated elite and the population-at-large led to development of distinctive aesthetics in ceramics.

The subtle and rich beauty of tea bowls, jars, bottles and other ceramics from the period will be on display Oct. 13-Jan. 5 at the Ackland Art Museum of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The exhibition, "Dark Jewels: Chinese Black and Brown Ceramics from the Shatzman Collection," will feature 70 examples of such works from the collection of Herbert and Eunice Shatzman of Durham.

The couple will join a free public opening celebration from 3-5 p.m. Oct. 13 at the museum, on South Columbia Street near Franklin Street. Admission to the Ackland, open Wednesdays through Sundays, is free.

For more than 20 years, the couple has collected Chinese ceramics from this 408-year period, when such wares reached their peak in variety, quality and popularity. Produced at numerous kilns in China over a large geographic area, the black and brown wares present innovative decorative techniques that produced striking patterns and pictorial designs. These were achieved by sophisticated manipulation of iron-oxide-rich glazes. Abstract and strangely contemporary-looking glazing techniques called hare’s fur, tortoiseshell and partridge feathers permeate the collection.

"When looked at closely, the pieces reveal a marvelous variety of form and technique," writes Asian art scholar Sherman Lee of Chapel Hill in his introduction to the exhibition catalogue. "The simple triad of black, brown and white gives rise to a whole range of decorative effects."

The period in China's history encompassed by the Shatzman collection was one of unprecedented economic growth, urbanization, a major demographic shift to the Yangzi River valley as the center of commercial activity and the rise of Neo-Confucianism. These changes fueled a flourishing of the arts. A new class of elites, the literati, gained official government status not by aristocratic lineage but through a meritocracy determined by civil service examinations. Their Neo-Confucian values rejected the sumptuousness and flamboyant decoration often seen in the arts of the Tang dynasty (618-907), instead encouraging a more intellectual approach that favored simplicity of form, ornamental restraint and subtlety of expression.

"In assembling this collection, we have always kept in mind that these pieces were created by unknown artisans, most of whom dedicated their lives to their trade," the Shatzmans write. "The glory of their efforts is the sophisticated glazes they were able to develop."

The collection is a promised gift to the Ackland, where it will join the most significant collection of Asian art on display in North Carolina. Herbert Shatzman serves on the Ackland’s National Advisory Committee.

"Dark Jewels" is guest-curated by Ellen Avril, chief curator and curator of Asian art at the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, where the exhibition will travel next spring. The exhibition is made possible in part by the William Hayes Ackland Trust.

The Ackland opens from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays and 1-5 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 919-966-5736 (museum office) or 919-962-0837 (TTY), or visit the Web site at www.ackland.org.

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Contact: Andy Berner (919) 966-5736