Stoneware vase

This vase is the only known stoneware work by landscape painter Jiang Eshi. On one side, bamboo branches hang from the truncated top of the vase. On the other side, the artist’s inscription reads, “Qingshuang made it for pleasure,” followed by his two seals. Qingshuang was Jiang’s courtesy name, which the painter took up later in life. His inexperience as a ceramist is evident, but the unique form and decorations of this vase echo his bold, rhythmic brushwork with ink on paper.