A JIZHOU RESIST-DECORATED 'PRUNUS' VASE, MEIPING, SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 12TH/13TH CENTURY | 南宋 十二/十三世紀 吉州窰黑釉剔花折枝梅紋梅瓶

The Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi province were unique among Song manufactories in having invented a whole range of decorative techniques and motifs independent from contemporary ceramic workshops elsewhere and having thus developed their own distinct style. The present vase with its reserved prunus blossoms in the black glaze, highlighted with painted details, represents one of the most classic Jizhou designs. Similar vases discovered in Nanchang, Jiangxi province, and today in the Jiangxi Province Museum, are illustrated in Peng Minghan, ed., Yasu zhi jian Jizhou yao/Jizhou Kiln, Beijing, 2007, pls 23-25; one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is published in Li Huibing, ed., Gugong Bowuyuan cang wenwu zhenpin quanji. Liang Song ciqi/The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1996, vol. 2, pl. 217; and one in the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, in Rose Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, pl. 112 left.