Minneapolis Institute of Art

Octagonal Ewer and Cover

China

Date

11th century

Medium

Qingbai ware Porcelain with pale-blue glaze

Department

Asian Art

Institution

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Qingbai (bluish-white) is an apt term for a thin, translucent glaze of a faint, bluish tone that deepens where it thickens or collects in intaglio designs. Qingbai porcelains are indigenous to southern China; Jiangxi province was the major source and it is likely that kilns in the vicinity of Jingde Zhen produced the greatest number and best quality. This eight-paneled ewer is a fine example of Qingbai. The refined, delicacy of potting, subtle blue glaze, provide great aesthetic merit. An ewer of nearly identical size and shape was excavated from a Liao tomb in Zhaoyong city, Liaoning province, dated to about 1004. Asia

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