Ashmolean Eastern Art Online, Yousef Jameel Centre for Islamic and Asian Art

This kind of decorative effect is known from the Jizhou kilns in Jiangxi province, but the present bowl differs in its heavy potting and the material of body and glaze from the typical Jizhou products.

The wide rounded bowl has a groove below the slightly everted lip, and a straight narrow foot, which is almost solid, but has a broad shallow footring. The centre inside shows a small circular recess with a central raised boss. The glossy dark brown glaze fully covers the piece inside and outside, but leaves the underside of the foot and base in the pale buff biscuit. The bowl is decorated with an overall pattern of uneven splashes of café-au-lait colour, arranged in form of a dense web on the inside, while the outside shows only a few pendant strokes.