This small jar has painted brown pigments covered in a thin, transparent glaze. The whole body is decorated with scroll motifs and bands of brown at the neck, shoulders and slightly above the base. The domed cover with flange has a decoration of sketchily painted vegetal motif possibly that of a lotus flower and leaf. This jar is most likely a Jizhou ware rather than its closely related type, the Cizhou ware of Hebei province.A bowl shred bearing a similar combination of scroll and lotus motifs was found at Jizhou, Jiangxi province in 1979. The shred decoration is painted in brown pigment and covered with a thin transparent glaze.Though both types of wares have rhythmic, free-flowing designs, the quality of painted designs on Cizhou wares is also more precise and less sketchy. Cizhou wares usually combine scroll motifs with peony or leaf motifs.Recent studies reveal that Jizhou kilns probably began productions during the late Tang dynasty (618-906 CE) or Five Dynasties Period (907-960 CE) and peaked during the Song dynasty and then continued into the Yuan period (1279-1368).
