A GLAZED WHITE STONEWARE JAR AND COVER Sui dynastyA GLAZED WHITE STONEWARE JAR AND COVERSui dynastyRising from the flat base to gently rounded shoulders, the vase of almost oval shape with short neck and rolled lip rim, the cover slightly domed with bud finial, the thin translucent green glaze finely crackled and pooled into an olive-green tone at the neck and edges of the cover, the underside of cover and bottom of the vase neatly pared, showing a fine white stoneware body. 9 3/4in (24.7cm) high with cover8 5/8in (22.1cm) high of vase隋 白瓷蓋罐It is extremely rare to see a white stoneware covered jar of this form. The rounded shoulders, short neck and rolled rim compare closely to the 'bell'-shaped jars of the same period. The clay body so fine to not require a white slip under the translucent glaze. As Rawson discussed in The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, p. 215: "The tomb of Fan Cui at Banyang, dated AD 575, contained high-fired white wares made of Kaolinitic clay, and throughout the Sui (589-618) and Tang dynasties such white wares continued to be made in that area at the Gong xian kilns and also at the Xing kilns in Hebei province... Both kiln complexes are situated in the foothills of the Taihang mountain range, where the loess is thinner and the underlying clay therefore more accessible." High quality white wares discovered from the Northern Qi tomb of Fan Cui (A.D. 575) and the Sui dynasty tomb of Li Jingxun (A.D. 608) demonstrate continued improvement in firing techniques and exploration of vessel forms, which laid the groundwork for further development of Xing and Ding wares in the Tang and Song dynasties.Compare, for example, the very fine white stoneware bell-shaped jar and cover excavated in 1954 from the tomb of Ji Qi at Guojiatan, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, illustrated in The Bulletin of the Chinese Ceramic Study Association of Tokiwayama Bunko Foundation, Vol. 3, Northern Qi Ceramics, Tokyo, 2010, p. 89, no. 100a, where the author cites the original publication in Wenwu, 1959, No. 8.Compare also the Sui dynasty white jar of closely related form in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 64, no. 58.