White ware measuring jar for rice, 11th - 12th century (1001 - 1200), South China, Song dynasty, AD 976 – AD 984, porcelain, thrown, with combed and applied decoration under a bluish-white glaze (qingbai ware); unglazed base; glazed rim, 7.8 cm (height) - 9.4 cm (diameter). Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust., LI1301.321, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford © The University of Sussex

Although bowls of this shape are usually attributed to the Southern Song (1127–1279) or Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), a similar qingbai example has come to light in a Northern Song (AD 960–1127) tomb in Anhui, whose owner died in AD 1089 and was buried in AD 1092.

The rounded jar is slightly flattened at the base to stand securely, and has a straight neck with outward curved rim. The rounded part is combed from one side to the other across the base with parallel lines, and a row of small bosses is applied between body and neck. The light bluish glaze covers the inside of the piece, the neck and the uppermost part of the body outside, but leaves most of the outside in the pale beige biscuit.