SMALL JAR, Iridescent green-glazed, Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE)

This is a green-glazed jar of the Han Dynasty (202 BC–220 AD). During the Han, true celadon appeared for the first time in the history of Chinese ceramics; ash-glazed wares, polychrome ash pottery, black pottery, and lead-glazed ceramics were also produced. Marking a shift from the bronze culture that flourished from the Shang and Zhou through the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the Han saw the technical innovation of firing celadon, which led to a wide diversity of ceramic techniques and forms. This example has a gently curving shoulder and a low mouth; its modest scale is well suited to a tea room. Although the glaze has lost much of its original brightness, long burial has produced a natural silvering, creating a distinctive interplay of bluish-green glaze and exposed clay. This natural silvering is said to require several hundred years to develop.