Jar

13th century

Layers of dark brown slip were cut away to reveal a layer underneath of white slip, a technique known as sgraffito, skillfully applied in some of the most striking examples of Cizhou ware. Carved black wares such as these were particularly popular in northern China, from the Xixia to the Yuan dynasties.

Stoneware with underglaze, carved decoration in brown-black, white slip

11 in. (28 cm)

Girth: 9 in.

Diam.: 2 in.

Thomas D. Stimson Memorial Collection

43.8

Provenance: Yamanaka & Co., Inc, United States, to 1942; [liquidation sale by Alien Property Custodian, Yamanaka & Co., Inc., 1943, lot 648]; purchased from Yamanaka Liquidation Sale by Seattle Art Museum, 1943

Photo: Elizabeth Mann

Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Glaze, Pattern and Image: Decoration in Chinese Ceramics", September 7, 2002 - November 19, 2002

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, "Chinese Art: A Seattle Perspective", December 22, 2007 - July 26, 2009 (12/22/2007 - 7/26/2009).

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.

Published ReferencesFoong, Ping, Xiaojin Wu, and Darielle Mason. "An Asian Art Museum Transformed." Orientations vol. 51, no. 3 (May/June 2020): p. 61, reproduced fig. 22 (installation view).

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