Jizhou tortoiseshell tea bowl,

12th–13th century

12th–13th century

Asia, China

An exquisite tea bowl of buff stoneware with slightly rounded sides straightening to a lip and resting on a shallow foot ring. The interior and exterior sides have a dark brown-black glaze with amber splashes with color highlights in tan, white, and blue. The exterior glaze stops just short of the unglazed foot. Fingernail marks are found around the base where the potter gripped the unfired bowl in an inverted position for dipping into the glaze.

Bowls of this glaze type originated at the Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi province, and were produced possibly from as early as the Northern Song (960–1127) period through the Yuan dynasty (1260–1368). This tortoiseshell glazed bowl displays Song traits in its buff-colored clay body and milkier tan/white/blue/amber splashes. Later Yuan period examples have a whiter clay body which shows through the translucent amber spots more brilliantly.