A RARE FINELY PAINTED AND INCISED 'CIZHOU' 'BIRDS' JAR JIN / YUAN DYNASTY

sturdily potted with a robust ovoid body tapering sharply from the wide rounded shoulders to the countersunk base, freely painted and incised in dark brown over the white slip on either side with a songbird perched on leafing and flowering branches, the tails and flowers further detailed with an iron wash, framed within shaped cartouches and divided by radiating petals, all between double line borders, the glaze stopping neatly at the foot ring to reveal the grayish body, the rim and interior applied with a dark-brown glaze thinning to a mahogany tone at the rim, Japanese wood box (3)
Diameter 10 in., 25.5 cm

Provenance:
Hirano Koto-ken, Tokyo, 1974.