Dinasty Max 3 Crackl

Buff clay.Glaze: Translucent semimatte ash glaze with brown crackle. Foot rim and base unglazed; three spur marks in bottom. Stained around rim inside and out; glaze abraded on rim.Decoration: Faint gray-blue underglaze cobalt painted decoration of four "Chinese characters" evenly spaced around outside, one in bottom inside double ring.

Dinasty Max 3 Crackl

The glaze on this small vase, a product of the Jiaotan kiln, shows the dense, dark crackle characteristic of imperially sponsored Guan ware. Crazing occurs accidentally as the fired vessel cools, but the Guan crackle was induced by formulating the glaze to shrink more than the clay body, causing the glaze to fracture. Some Guan wares were made from dark clay that lends its color to the glaze crackle; sometimes, the color of the crackle was also artificially enhanced. The glaze that envelopes Guan ware, applied in several layers, is often thicker than the thin clay body.