Cleveland Museum of Art

Jar with Cover (cover)

Date

1100s

Medium

porcelaneous stoneware with blue glaze and splashes of purple, Jun ware

Culture

China, Henan province, Yuxian, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) or Jin dynasty (1115-1234)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The beauty of Jun ware lies in its spectacular glaze effects, which provide immediate visual appeal. The glaze that is thickly applied onto the heavily potted body also lends the vessel a sense of volume. As shown here, its glaze colors range from soft milky-blue to rose-purple. The purple suffusions are created by splashing or brushing copper-rich pigments onto the glaze before firing. The merging of purple splashes with opalescent blue glaze displays rich tonal variations, resembling purplish glows at sunset.

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