NORTHERN SONG DYNASTY, 10TH-11TH CENTURY

The distinctive form of this jar is discussed by L. Rotondo-McCord in the catalogue for the exhibition, Heaven and Earth Seen Within: Song Ceramics from the Robert Barron Collection, New Orleans Museum of Art, 2000, p. 50, who traces its development from its first appearance in the ninth century through the Song dynasty, when jars of this type were particularly popular. The author cites that such jars may have functioned as waste receptacles for wine dregs or tea leaves.

A very similar jar is illustrated by M. Sullivan, Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades in the Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow, London, 1963, pl. 52a.