A Brown Guangdong Stoneware Meiping Jar No.2

A week ago, my other dealer caught me in a trap. She tempted me with a new item, presumably from a fresh dig, so fresh that according to her, it came only today from a mountain site north of Montemayor.  With it were several large shards from a broken dragon jar that lay in a pile in the shop.  It was typical 15th-16th century southern Chinese Meiping or Mei Ping vessel.  By Meiping, I meant that the shape followed the eponymous style- narrow base, wide curved shoulders, narrow neck.
 

A meiping (Chinese: 梅瓶; pinyin: méipíng; literally: "plum vase") is a Chinese vase shape.It is traditionally used to display branches of plum blossoms.The meiping was first made of stoneware during the Tang dynasty (618-907).It was originally used as a wine vessel, but since the Song dynasty (960–1279) it became popular as a plum vase and got its name "meiping". It is tall, with a narrow base spreading gracefully into a wide body, followed by a sharply-rounded shoulder, a short and narrow neck, and a small opening. -Wikipedia

The brown Guangdong stoneware jar is really beautiful- rustic and free from any restorations.  I bought it for $75 knowing that such prize catch rarely do come by- especially that considerable clay dirt was still stuck inside.  My dealer said there might be gold in it, of course I took that comment with a kilo of salt.  If this were all the burial effects (one small and one large jar), then the one interred may not have been a very rich person.

I went home and cleaned out the dirt which interestingly yielded nothing but, dirt.  The glaze has already deteriorated to the point that only the upper 1/4th of the jar still contains the brownish color.  The brownish glaze points to Guangdong in origin. I'm not sure if this could be Vietnamese, but from the glaze to the shape, it all points to Guangdong.

These small monthly additions really do add up to a nice grouping.  I hope more brownware will crop up in the near future.

Happy Collecting!