Chinese Crackle Glaze Bowl

A bowl with a hundred hairline opinions.

Potters of Zhejiang Province, China, made this crackle glaze bowl in porcelain in the 19th century. Crackle glazes, where the surface crazes into a web of fine lines, have long been prized in Chinese ceramics, often for their resemblance to ice or old stone. The bowl is squat and round with a rolled lip and a softly narrowed foot. The pale gray-white glaze is covered with a network of brown crackle lines.

About 3 inches tall and 5 across. Small, quiet and endlessly detailed.