JIN/YUAN DYNASTY, 12TH-13TH CENTURY

Bowls decorated using this technique of painting in russet iron oxide against a brownish-black glaze are rare. There is an example with unglazed ring on its interior in the Tokyo National Museum, published in Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum - Chinese Ceramics I, Tokyo, 1988, p. 155, no. 623. The latter bowl, however, is decorated on the interior with relatively large individual vegetal sprays. Indeed it is rare to find vessels decorated using this technique which have the densely-painted, small-scale motifs seen on the current bowl. The large jars and pear-shaped vases with russet- painted decoration most commonly have individual sprays, like those on the 13th century jar in the Burrell Collection, published by R. Marks, R. Scott, et al., in The Burrell Collection, Collins, London/Glasgow, 1983, p. 49, pl. 12. Some have large-scale overall decoration, such as that on the Jin dynasty jar in the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, Tsugio Mikami (ed.), Tokyo, 1981, vol. 13, Liao, Jin, Yuan, p. 244, pl. 284. The current bowl is therefore rare in having its charming scatter of delicate, feather-like leaves.