Download our app and ask your own questions during your visit. Here are some that others have asked.

Can you tell me about this?

This bowl is an example of Jun ware, which was developed in northern China. It is characterized by it's stoneware body and opalescent blue-toned glaze.

The blue tones were constructed using an optical illusion. Cobalt pigments weren't actually used to create the colors, like in other blue ceramics. Rather a combination of silica, alumina, and plant ash was fired to create a glaze made up of tiny glass spheres, which refract blue light in the same way as particles in the sky.

Hi! What kind of process is used to make the glaze look like this?

Basically, it has to do with variations in heat and oxygen level in the kiln. The glaze itself is all one color. Let me get some more details for you!

So, the glaze used in Jun ware relies on chemical reactions between silica, alumina, and plant ash that take place in the high temperatures of the kiln to produce the mostly blue-green color that you see.

Even higher temperatures transform the glaze into the red-purple splotches which were considered desirable. Ceramic artists carefully engineered their kilns to produce varying temperatures to this end.

Cool thanks!

Bowl

Asian Art

MEDIUM Jun ware, stoneware with purplish blue glaze

Place Made: China

DATES 12th century

DYNASTY Song Dynasty

PERIOD Song Dynasty

DIMENSIONS 3 1/16 x 7 3/8 in. (7.8 x 18.7 cm)

COLLECTIONS Asian Art

ACCESSION NUMBER 2004.28.40

CREDIT LINE The Peggy N. and Roger G. Gerry Collection

EXHIBITIONS

Infinite Blue

MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view

RECORD COMPLETENESS

Not every record you will find here is complete. More information is available for some works than for others, and some entries have been updated more recently. Records are frequently reviewed and revised, and we welcome any additional information you might have.