A BLACK AND RUSSET-GLAZED 'BIRD' GLOBULAR JAR, XIAOKOU Jin Dynasty The rounded body tapering towards the foot, surmounted by a small double-ribbed neck, covered overall with a lustrous brownish-black glaze and freely painted in russet streaks to depict a bird in flight, the unglazed footring revealing a buff-coloured stoneware body. 21.5cm (8 1/2in) high. Footnotes: 金 黑釉鐵鏽花小口瓶 Provenance: A European Private Collection. Ovoid jars of this type, featuring distinctive small, double-ringed lips, are known as xiaokou ping (small-mouthed bottles). These jars were likely sealed with a fabric-wrapped wooden dowel and used for storing wine and other liquids. Typically covered in a dark glaze, these bottles often display abstract floral designs or motifs suggestive of birds in flight, as seen on this example, painted in russet or rust-brown slip. The decorations are characteristically executed with bold, calligraphic strokes, lending the jars a dynamic and expressive quality. A bottle from the collection of Robert M. Ferris IV with similarly-painted birds in flight rendered in russet against a black glaze is illustrated by R. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Cambridge MA, 1996, p.162, no.53. Another similar black-glazed vase painted with birds in russet is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol.1, London, 1994, p.255, no.465. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing