Thick Potted, of shallow straight cylindrical body , all reserved in pale creme crackled glaze. Has a grayish-creme glaze that is fully opaque with an almost matte finish. Its crackle pattern is exaggerated, standing out in bold black with thick dot rounded the surface. Notes : Guan ware or Kuan ware (guan yao; kuan-yao) is one of the Five Famous Kilns of Song Dynasty China, making high-status stoneware, whose surface decoration relied heavily on crackled glaze, randomly crazed by a network of crack lines in the glaze. Guan means "official" in Chinese and Guan ware was, most unusually for Chinese ceramics of the period, the result of an imperial initiative resulting from the loss of access to northern kilns such as those making Ru ware and Jun ware after the invasion of the north and the flight of a Song prince to establish the Southern Song at a new capital at Hangzhou, Zhejiang province. It is usually assumed that potters from the northern imperial kilns followed the court south to man the new kilns. In some Asian sources "Guan ware" may be used in the literally translated sense to cover any "official" wares ordered by the Imperial court. Dimensions: 2-1/2" H x 10-5/8" Diam. PROVENANCE: From the private collections of Madame Kimball, of Boston, Massachusetts, by inheritance. Records bought from AMEUBLEMENTS ANCIENS, Faiences & Porcelaines, Bibelots & Tapisseries Anciennes, 3 Rue Des Saints-Peres, Paris (6). Dealers in Works of Art & Antiques, Curios, Armor, Plate, China, Jewels, etc.