A Sky Blue-glazed JUN Ewer

Potted with a flared mouth, a slender girdled neck, a sloping everted shoulder, and a bulging belly tapering down to the bottom, the ewer has a slim and elegant spout, protruding out upward and rising to parallel with the opening; the curved strip handle decorated with a ridge line in the middle, bulges on the top and is attached to the neck and the belly, like a man’s ear; the bottom is slightly converged and supported on a splayed foot ring. It is fully applied with sky blue glaze of crystal texture; the rim and the ridge line present a light brown colour due to its thinner glaze; while the joint areas and creases and grooves hold thicker glaze, so as to give an oily gloss; the foot bottom is neatly trimmed and left unglazed to expose its grey biscuit, yet the interior of the foot ring is also partially applied with glaze.

Ewers produced in the Song Dynasty are mostly from kiln DING, scarcely from kiln JUN, hence its extreme rarity.