Ewer with white glaze

The ewer with transparent glaze applied over the white body comes from the folk workshops called Cizhou yao. While some items of this type are decorated in monochrome glazes, like this ewer, others bore engraved, carved or painted decoration. This ewer comes from the collection of Czech painter Emil Filla (1882–1953), who was known for his keen interest in non-European art and assembled one of the largest collections of Chinese artefacts in Czechoslovakia between the two world wars.