Impressed, high-fired ceramic wares are known to have been made in the regions of south-central and southeastern China, including present-day Jiangxi, Jiangsu and Fujian provinces, before the first millenium B.C. By the Zhou period they were widely used. Some of the finer examples were covered with glaze

An unusually large number of glazed stoneware vessels with impressed and incised ornament under a dark olive or brownish glaze have been unearthed from tombs of the late Western and early Eastern Zhou dynasty in the area of Tunxi, Anhui province. Some of these are decorated with chevron patterns and applied scrolls similar to those on the present lot. See Kaogu 1990:3, pls. 1:2, 2:3 and 3:5; and Kaogu xuebao 1959:4, p. 69, fig. 6 and pl. 16:2