SONG DYNASTY (AD 960-1279)

The elongated pear shape of this vase was produced at various kilns in Northern China during the Song dynasty. It appears that black-glazed examples are particularly rare. For a stoneware vase of this form with black ‘oil-spot’ glaze see R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3 (II), London, 2006, pp. 502-503, no. 1508. See, also, a plain Yaozhou celadon vase of a similar form from a Japanese collection illustrated in the catalogue Song Ceramics, Asahi Shimbun, Tokyo, 1999, p. 54, no. 17, and a Junyao vase of similar form in the Percival David Collection, now in the British Museum, illustrated in Imperial Taste: Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, Los Angeles, 1989, p. 38, no. 14.