This high fired bowl has straight, slightly splayed high foot and steep gently rounded sides rising to a slightly everted rim. It is covered overall in a creamy-white slip and transparent glaze, the well with three small spur marks. The red staining is very typical for ceramics found in Julu town (see below for more information). Many plain bowls found there were produced in the Cizhou kilns, Cixian county, Hebei.
Juluxian was a district in southern Hebei, North China, where the market town of Julu was located, close to the banks of the Yellow river. In the hsin-ssu day of the eight moon in the second year of the reign of Ta-kuan, corresponding to 10 September 1108 AD, the Yellow river burst its banks and submerged Julu town. When the waters subsided, the town was buried under several meters of silt. It remained undisturbed until 1920 (even if occasional findings of ceramics are knows before this date) when a severe drought in the region forced the peasants to dig deeper wells, which reached the level of the houses buried about 812 years before.
Scientific archaeological excavations were initiated only in 1921, and in very modest scale, but were important in confirming the historical background of the findings.
Regarding the types of wares discovered in Julu town, many were Cizhou, with Guantaizhen as probable source for a significant proportion, but there were as well Ding and Ding-like pieces. They were normally characterized by red stains, caused by the wet, muddy environment where they spent over eight centuries, and at that time very difficult to clean.
Period: Northern Song dynasty (960-1127)
Size: Diameter 15 cm, height 8.3 cm
Condition: Wear and firing flaws, minor chips to the rim and foot, a ca 5 cm hairline from the rim, large areas with red staining.
Provenance: From a German collection
SKU: 227
References: There is a related bowl in the Freer Gallery of Art Collection.
https://asia.si.edu/explore-art-culture/collections/search/edanmdm:fsg_F1911.368/
More info: Northern White Ware
