Cleveland Museum of Art

Vase (Meiping) with Waves

Date

1200s–1300s

Medium

glazed stoneware with slip painted decoration, Jizhou ware

Culture

China, Jiangxi Province, Yonghezhen, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Jizhou ware kilns in central Jiangxi province produced a dark ware in competition with other kilns in China and so Jizhou potters were highly inventive. Part of their work is a ware covered with a white slip over which they painted bold graphic designs of great visual effect. This striking wave design is remarkable in the way the painter transformed the entire surface of the vase into dynamically rolling masses of water, highlighted by cresting waves. Jizhou wares were excavated in cities of the lower Yangzi delta, including Nanjing, Shanghai, Changzhou, Taizhou, as well as Anhui province, Korea, and Japan. When Jizhou ware is fired, the slip coating and the inlaid decoration assume a soft ivory color while the exposed clay body displays a warm cinnamon brown.

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