NORTHERN SONG-JIN DYNASTY (AD 960-1234)

Marbling, known in Chinese as jiao tai (mixed clay), became a popular decorative technique on ceramics of the Tang dynasty and continued to be employed throughout the Song-Jin period at a number of northern kilns, including the Kuangshan kilns in Jiaozuo and the Dangyangyu kilns in Xiuwu county, both in northern Henan province. The marbled appearance could be achieved either by combining clays of different colors when making the vessel, or by slicing the twisted and kneaded clay into thin layers that would be laminated to the surface of the vessel, as is the case with the present bowl. In either case, the piece was covered afterwards with a transparent glaze. Both marbling techniques required considerable skill on the part of the potter. A fragment of a marbled pillow from the Gong Xian kilns, Henan province, which shows the construction of thin marbled veneer on a plain pottery underlayer, was included in The Exhibition of Ceramic Finds from Ancient Kilns in China, University of Hong Kong, 1981, p. 110, no. 37.