Cleveland Museum of Art

Lady Holding a Vase

Date

1100s–1200s

Medium

Stoneware with slip decoration, Cizhou ware

Culture

China, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) - Jin dynasty (1115-1234)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Cizhou ware kilns never produced for the imperial court, but made potted utensils needed in daily life. They also fired ceramic figurines, which are believed to have been used as toys. The maid or palace lady here holds a long-necked vase of a type that watered flowers. The figurine, perhaps made as a toy for a girl, was molded in clay and covered with a white slip and transparent glaze, over which some colors in red, green, and ocher were applied. Cizhou kiln potters were one of the first in China who applied overglaze enamel-like colors on glazed, high-fired ceramics. This hollow stoneware figure of a woman has firing hole visible at the bottom.

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