Bowl thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
China, Room 44, The T.T. Tsui Gallery

Bowl

Bowl
12th century (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This bowl belongs to a type of ceramics known as Jun ware. Chinese ceramics are often categorized by the geographical area in which they were made, as the kilns of a particular region usually made only one or two types of ceramics at a given time in history. Jun ware was produced in the kilns of the Henan province and its height of production was during the Song dynasty (960-1279). It can be identified visually by its coarse stoneware body and its thickly applied glaze, which through firing gained an opalescent blue colour. At the edges the glaze ran thin, becoming semi-transparent and creating the simple and elegant colouring of this piece.

Some types of Chinese ceramics were made exclusively for the imperial household. Jun wares, however, were mostly made for popular use and were not widely collected before the late Ming dynasty, when they were first mentioned in scholarly writings. By the Qing dynasty their status had elevated, when the Qianlong emperor (reigned 1736-95) was an admirer of them and used them for decorating his domestic spaces.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleBowl
Materials and techniques
Glazed stoneware
Brief description
Bowl, stoneware with blue glaze, Jun ware, China, Northern Song-Jin dynasty, 12th century
Physical description
Jun ware bowl, stoneware with blue glaze
Dimensions
  • Diameter: 11.5cm
Styles
Gallery label
Tea bowl Northern Song-Jin dynasty 1100-1200 Jun kilns, north China Stoneware with sky blue glaze Museum no. FE.167-1974 Mrs B.Z. Seligman Bequest(2007)
Credit line
Seligman Bequest
Summary
This bowl belongs to a type of ceramics known as Jun ware. Chinese ceramics are often categorized by the geographical area in which they were made, as the kilns of a particular region usually made only one or two types of ceramics at a given time in history. Jun ware was produced in the kilns of the Henan province and its height of production was during the Song dynasty (960-1279). It can be identified visually by its coarse stoneware body and its thickly applied glaze, which through firing gained an opalescent blue colour. At the edges the glaze ran thin, becoming semi-transparent and creating the simple and elegant colouring of this piece.

Some types of Chinese ceramics were made exclusively for the imperial household. Jun wares, however, were mostly made for popular use and were not widely collected before the late Ming dynasty, when they were first mentioned in scholarly writings. By the Qing dynasty their status had elevated, when the Qianlong emperor (reigned 1736-95) was an admirer of them and used them for decorating his domestic spaces.
Bibliographic reference
Kerr, Rose. Song Dynasty Ceramics. London: V&A Publications, 2004. p. 33, no. 23.
Collection
Accession number
FE.167-1974

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Record createdJanuary 22, 2005
Record URL
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