A RUSSET-PAINTED BLACK-GLAZED JAR SONG DYNASTY |

sturdily potted with an ovoid body sweeping up from a countersunk base to a broad shoulder and constricted mouth, the exterior liberally painted with abstract strokes in russet, all against a glossy black glaze stopping short of the unglazed footring 

See two related black-glazed jars, one illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2006, vol. 3, no. 1517; and another in the Victoria and Albert Museum, illustrated in Nigel Wood, Chinese Glazes, London, 1999, p. 145, where the author discusses the possibility that the designs were painted beneath the glaze with an iron-rich slip, unlike the russet glazes that were 'splashed', which was the preferred technique with northern blackware.