Bottle with a carved design of peony scrolls

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Explanation

This is a long-necked bottle made with a porcelain clay relatively high in iron content. It is elegantly decorated with peony flowers and vine scrolls executed in katakiribori (one-side-carving), a technique unique to northern celadon ware, and is thickly applied with a celadon glaze which has fired to a magnificent olive color. Extant pieces from the Yaozhou kilns are mostly pots, dishes and bowls, and examples of jars and bottles are comparatively few in number. This beautiful bottle is an especially wonderful specimen of a very rare type.