JIN DYNASTY (1115-1234)

The Huairen kilns, based in Huairen county in Shanxi province, are renowned for their production of black-glazed wares. Their ‘oil spot’ tea bowls were particularly held in high regard by connoisseurs, and often compared with the ‘oil spot’ bowls produced by the Jian kilns in the south. The current bowl, with the black glaze scraped away around the mouth rim to make way for a layer of white glaze, is even more complex in production and very rarely seen among extant examples.