Globular Bottle

Probably used to store wine, this incised globular bottle has two bands of floral and cloud decoration that were carved through the stable but still moist glaze to the clay body before firing. Cut-glaze decoration, as this technique is called, rose to prominence in Cizhou kilns during the Northern Song (960-1127) and Jin (1115-1234) periods. The method was inspired by the more complicated earlier Cizhou decorative techniques worked with black and white slips in combination with incised decor under a clear glaze. Vessels with cut-glaze decoration are often attributed to Shanxi province but many such vessels were produced in other northern provinces as well.