Yaozhou persimmon stoneware bowl

A stoneware bowl of wide, globular form, supported on a neatly cut foot ring, the rounded sides curving inwards and terminating in an almost straight rim.  The bowl’s metallic-looking, persimmon-coloured glaze covers the entire body.  Only the base remains unglazed and reveals the buff stoneware.

• In most instances, Yaozhou ware is associated with a celadon glaze; vessels with a persimmon-coloured glaze are much rarer.  Describing a number of persimmon-glazed stonewares in the Meiyintang collection, Krahl states that stoneware vessels with a grey or buff body and persimmon glaze: “..have been discovered at the Yaozhou kiln sites in Shaanxi province and are also known from related kilns in Henan.  Bowls and dishes are often lobed, reminiscent of lacquer ware, and may have been made in imitation of persimmon-coloured lacquer..”.1 A comparable persimmon-glazed stoneware bowl ascribed to the Yaozhou kiln is in the Jiurutang collection, Hong Kong.2    An example with more widely flared rim is in the collection of Simon Kwan.3 

1. Krahl, R. Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, Volume One, Azimuth Editions, London, 1994, p. 242
2. The Jiurutang Collection (ed.) The Jiurutang Collection, Hong Kong 2003, no. 62, p. 86-7
3. Ho, K.C. Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1994, no. 86, pp. 208-9