Cizhou ware vase with floral decoration, Cizhou kiln-sites, 12th - 13th century (1101 - 1300), Jin Dynasty (1115 - 1234), stoneware, thrown, covered in white slip, and with brown slip-painted decoration under a transparent glaze; unglazed base; glazed rim, 24.7 cm (height) - 12.5 cm (diameter) - at foot 7.2 cm (diameter). Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust., LI1301.189, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford © The University of Sussex

This form, known in Chinese as meiping (‘prunus blossom bottle’), was one of the most characteristic Chinese shapes since the Song dynasty (AD 960–1279). Examples were produced by most Chinese kilns and remain popular until today. Compare also a jar with a similar design in the Barlow Collection [LI1301.330].

The piece is well potted, of slender form, tapering from the rounded shoulders towards the base, where it is slightly flared, and terminating in a low, narrow neck with an everted sloping rim. The base is recessed and has a high footring. The yellowish-beige stoneware bears a white slip, applied in two layers, and is painted with three brown foliate sprays under a transparent glaze. The different layers of slip and glaze are ending unevenly above the base, leaving footring and base in the biscuit.