A RUSSET-SPLASHED BLACK-GLAZED JAR, JIN/YUAN DYNASTY, 13TH CENTURY | 金/元 十三世紀 黑釉鐵鏽花嘟嚕瓶

This type of black-glazed stoneware painted with calligraphic rust-brown designs became extremely popular in north China and was probably produced by several kilns, but the present jar is exceptional in size, in its superb profile with plump rounded body, narrow base and small, sharply profiled neck, and its evocative decoration. According the Nigel Wood (Chinese Glazes. Their Origins, Chemistry and Recreation, London, 1999, p. 145), the rust-brown designs on the black glaze which are often described as having been splashed or painted onto the glaze, may in fact derive from underglaze painting with a thin iron-rich slip. Much smaller vessels of this type are in many museum collections, for example, in the Shanghai Museum, see Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete series on Chinese ceramics], vol. 10, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 198; or the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, see Li He, Chinese Ceramics: The New Standard Guide, London, 1996, pl. 309.