Black ware bowl with white rim, 11th - 12th century (1001 - 1200), Northern Song Dynasty (AD 960 - 1127), stoneware, thrown, with black iron glaze; rim, covered in white slip under a transparent glaze; unglazed base, 5.2 cm (height) - 11.6 cm (diameter). Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust. LI1301.385, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford © The University of Sussex

The bowl has rounded conical sides with an everted rim, and a straight, nearly solid foot with broad, shallow footring. The inside and outside are glazed in a glossy black, turning brown where it is thinner, near the rim and in patches on the outside, with a broad band at the rim wiped free of black glaze, dipped in white slip and covered with a transparent glaze. Slivers of grey biscuit and white slip are exposed between the two glazes. The footring and base are also free of glaze and slip, and above the glazed foot is an unglazed groove. Fine grit adheres to the footring.