Song Vase
Place of Origin
Culture/Period
Date From
960
Date To
1279
Materials
Height (cm)
11.5
Width (cm)
8.3
Credit Line
Accession Number
HKU.C.1958.0214
Description
This vase should be a kind of Mei bottle. Mei bottle is a bottle type with a small mouth, short neck, large shoulders, thin bottom, circle foot. The smallmouth can only insert plum branch, "Mei" means plum in Chinese; thus, we call Mei bottle. Because of the bottle's slender body, it was called a "jing bottle" in the Song Dynasty, which was used for holding wine.
In the Song Dynasty, many beautiful porcelains were made by official kilns, including Ru porcelains, Qingbai porcelain, etc. Although unearthed in Kaifeng, this song vase was not made in an official kiln. The vase itself can be distinguished from the colour and the glaze, it should belong to the Yaozhou kiln product, and the porcelain glaze has the phenomenon of natural opening. The bottle is not transparent, and the pattern is a leaf pattern. The pattern is not drawing exquisitely so that the vase may come from the folk workshop. The original owner of this porcelain vase was not born into a wealthy family but an ordinary citizen's family. However, the round body of the vase also shows that the firing process of porcelain was mature during the Song Dynasty.
In the Song Dynasty, many beautiful porcelains were made by official kilns, including Ru porcelains, Qingbai porcelain, etc. Although unearthed in Kaifeng, this song vase was not made in an official kiln. The vase itself can be distinguished from the colour and the glaze, it should belong to the Yaozhou kiln product, and the porcelain glaze has the phenomenon of natural opening. The bottle is not transparent, and the pattern is a leaf pattern. The pattern is not drawing exquisitely so that the vase may come from the folk workshop. The original owner of this porcelain vase was not born into a wealthy family but an ordinary citizen's family. However, the round body of the vase also shows that the firing process of porcelain was mature during the Song Dynasty.
Citation
“Song Vase,” 3D Objects at UMAG, accessed November 6, 2024, https://digasst.lib.hku.hk/items/show/109.