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Jar with Applied Handles and Bluish–White Splashes (Northern "splashed" blackware)
Jar with Applied Handles and Bluish–White Splashes (Northern "splashed" blackware)
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Jar with Applied Handles and Bluish–White Splashes (Northern "splashed" blackware)

Date8th or 9th century, Tang dynasty (618–906)
Mediumstoneware with iron-rich, high-lime glaze and phosphatic suffusions
Dimensions10.8 x 12.2 cm (4 1/4 x 4 13/16 in.)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineGift of Henry Jewett Greene
Object number1953.82
Label TextDuring the Tang dynasty, high-quality, utilitarian stoneware was sturdy in form and austere in color. The vessels were provided, inside and out, with dark matte glazes tinted with iron. Kilns producing such “blackware” in Henan province, especially at Huangdao (Jia county) and Duandian (Lushan county), also became known for their dramatic variant known as “splashed” blackware. This ovoid jar was first dipped in an iron-rich, brownish-black glaze. Its glazing was deliberately stopped well above the foot so that the glaze would not run off and fuse the foot to the kiln furniture. The “splashes” were added by dripping, pouring or brushing a wood ash-rich mixture onto the raw dark glaze before firing. During the high-temperature firing (at about 1270–1300ºC in an oxidizing to neutral atmosphere) and slow cooling, the ash-slag splashes turned into bluish-white suffusions (yuebaiban). This splashed inglaze decoration may have inspired the later development of splashed Jun wares in Henan province (see 2008.47).ProvenanceHenry Jewett Greene, Petersham, MA and Winter Park, Florida
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