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Cizhou type jar with a dragon and phoenix
- loan
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Details
- Associated place
- Date
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13th - 14th century (1201 - 1400)
Yuan Dynasty (1279 - 1368)
- Material and technique
- stoneware, thrown, covered in white slip, and incised through brown slip-painted decoration under a transparent glaze; brown glaze inside
- Dimensions
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31 cm (height)
34.6 cm (diameter)
at base 16 cm (diameter)
- Material index
- Technique index
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- Object type index
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust.
- Accession no.
- LI1301.338
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Further reading
University of Sussex, and Arts and Humanities Research Council, The Barlow Collection, supervised by Regina Krahl, Maurice Howard, and Aiden Leeves (Sussex: University of Sussex, 2006), no. C338
Glossary (4)
glaze, phoenix, slip, stoneware
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glaze
Vitreous coating applied to the surface of a ceramic to make it impermeable or for decorative effect.
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phoenix
Mythical bird known as hōō in Japan. The Islamic tradition appropriated the far-eastern iconography of the phoenix and used it to represent another mythical bird, the simurgh.
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slip
A semi-fluid clay applied to a ceramic before glazing either to coat the surface or for decorative effect.
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stoneware
Ceramic material made of clay which is fired to a temperature of c.1200-1300⁰c and is often buff or grey in colour.
Location
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- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Publications online
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The Barlow Collection
A similar jar was recovered from the wreck of a ship sunk off the Korean coast in 1323.
The wide globular jar is very heavily potted, with a short straight neck and a shallow disc-shaped footring. The buff stoneware is covered with a white slip and painted with a large dragon chasing a flaming pearl, and a phoenix in flight, both surrounded by cloud motifs, all quickly painted in brown and with details incised to appear in white. The shoulder is decorated with concentric lines and a row of small dots. The slip and transparent glaze both end at the neck, the inside being glazed in dark brown. The footring and base are mainly exposed in the brown biscuit and show traces of brown glaze and white slip.
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum