Vase (Meiping) with Waves (1200s–1300s): Art, History and Details

Vase (Meiping) with Waves (1200s–1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Jizhou ware kilns in central Jiangxi province produced a dark ware in competition with other kilns in China and so Jizhou potters were highly inventive. Part of their work is a ware covered with a white slip over which they painted bold graphic designs of great visual effect. This striking wave design is remarkable in the way the painter transformed the entire surface of the vase into dynamically rolling masses of water, highlighted by cresting waves. Jizhou wares were excavated in cities of the lower Yangzi delta, including Nanjing, Shanghai, Changzhou, Taizhou, as well as Anhui province, Korea, and Japan.

Object facts

• Title: Vase (Meiping) with Waves
• Date: 1200s–1300s
• Culture: China, Jiangxi Province, Yonghezhen, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: glazed stoneware with slip painted decoration, Jizhou ware
• Dimensions: Diameter: 16.7 cm (6 9/16 in.); Overall: 26.3 cm (10 3/8 in.)
• Collection: China - Song Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1980.186

A detail from the museum

When Jizhou ware is fired, the slip coating and the inlaid decoration assume a soft ivory color while the exposed clay body displays a warm cinnamon brown.

Collection credit

Gifts of J. H. Wade and Mr. and Mrs. J. H. Wade; and purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund by exchange

Further reading listed by the museum

• Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art: The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat : Exhibition ... Nov. 1-3, 5-6, 1980 ... : Public Auction, Nov. 7, 1980. New York: Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc, 1980.
• Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1980.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 68, no. 6 (1981): 163–219.
• Gaskin, Steven P., "The David Vases: Considering Serpentine Waves on Yuan Blue-and-White." Orientations 46, no. 4 (May 2015): 81–89.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.