Chinese Cong Form Vase

Rows of raised bars, and a crackled glaze the color of a cool morning.

Potters of Jiangxi Province, China, made this cong form vase in porcelain in the late 19th or early 20th century. The cong is an ancient Chinese shape with a square outer form and round opening, first seen in jade and often associated with ritual. Here the squared body is covered in raised rows of horizontal bars grouped in trigrams, below a short round neck. The pale grey-green glaze is crackled all over in a fine web.

About 9 inches tall. Quiet in color, forceful in shape.