Jar with lotus and peony scrolls

The sgraffito technique of cizhou shops was applied with either white or dark glazes. In this case the prominent motif was set off by the part of the body where the glaze was cut off. One interesting feature of this jar is that it illustrates different kinds of carvings. On one side the flowers are rendered in outlines, and on the other side the veins are rendered using refined, incised lines. An unglazed neck and bottom correspond to the beige background color. The vaulted lines representing floral scrolls. This piece is unquestionable among the best of cut-glazed works. Kilns in Shanxi produced many large sized jars and had developed the sgraffito technique since the tenth century, a technique that employed increasingly refined lines after the twelfth century (CGK Zenshu 1984 vol. 28: 71, 95, 99).