JIN DYNASTY (1115-1234)

Typically dark-glazed, Jin-dynasty jars of this type are often painted in russet or rust-brown slip with abstract floral decoration or designs suggestive of birds in flight, such as those seen on the present example, characteristically rendered with vigorous, calligraphic strokes. Compare a jar of similar design and form illustrated by J. Ayers in Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, col. pl. 26. Another jar of this design in the Meiyintang Collection is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3 (II), London, 2006, p. 514, no. 1517.