Jar
Jin Dynasty (265-420 AD)
Stoneware, celadon glaze

When the Han Dynasty collapsed in 220 AD, China slid into chaos and the Empire split into three states.

The most significant development in ceramics at this time was the introduction of celadon (a European term believed to have come from the name of an Egyptian sultan, Saladin, who is said to have sent 40 such pots to the Sultan of Damascus).

The Chinese call this qing (ch’ing), “the colour of natural things” and it can be blue, green, black or grey. High temperature-fired, the Chinese blue-green we know as celadon in the West comes from small amounts of iron in the glaze.