Jar
960-1127 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Burial jar of stoneware with brown glaze. It is heavily potted, to the extent that turning rings are visible as ridged projections down the sides. This is a common device which may have been utilised purposefully as decoration. The body is a rather coarse, grey stoneware and the footring broad, uneven and bevelled on the outside edge. The base is uneven and shows a turning whorl of clay. The lower section of the body outside, the foot and base are all unglazed. The rest of the pot, both inside and outside, bears a matt, brownish-black iron glaze with little irridescent speckles. Around the jar, in an anti-clockwise direction, coils a dragon, chasing a flaming pearl. On one side of the jar are three vestigial lugs in vertical sequence, on the other side two lugs, and beneath the dragon one more.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Stoneware with brown glaze |
Brief description | Black ware. Burial jar, stoneware with brown glaze; China (probably Guangdong province), Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) |
Physical description | Burial jar of stoneware with brown glaze. It is heavily potted, to the extent that turning rings are visible as ridged projections down the sides. This is a common device which may have been utilised purposefully as decoration. The body is a rather coarse, grey stoneware and the footring broad, uneven and bevelled on the outside edge. The base is uneven and shows a turning whorl of clay. The lower section of the body outside, the foot and base are all unglazed. The rest of the pot, both inside and outside, bears a matt, brownish-black iron glaze with little irridescent speckles. Around the jar, in an anti-clockwise direction, coils a dragon, chasing a flaming pearl. On one side of the jar are three vestigial lugs in vertical sequence, on the other side two lugs, and beneath the dragon one more. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Credit line | Given by Mr P. H. D. S. Wikramaratna, in memory of his wife Nancy |
Object history | One of two similar jars offered to the V&A to choose one as a gift. The other jar was taller, did not have a ridged surface, and had a bluish irridescene in the glaze. The choice was made on the basis of the smaller jar's similarity to excavated examples. Similar vessels have been excavated from Guangdong province, e.g. from cremation burials in the suburbs of Foshan city see Kaogu, 1965, number 6, plate 7. |
Production | Register |
Subject depicted | |
Collection | |
Accession number | FE.8-1994 |
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Record created | June 25, 2009 |
Record URL |
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