These two ginger jars exemplify the quiet strength of Chinese monochrome copper-red ware.
Each has a rounded, quietly solid form that provides a broad, uninterrupted surface for the glaze.
The color moves over each jar in one continuous sweep, allowing the deep monochrome red to register with clarity and presence.
Though different in height and proportion, the jars complement one another through their simple silhouettes and the concentrated intensity of their single-color glaze.
On the taller jar, the body tapers gently toward the base, allowing the copper-red glaze to flow evenly along its length.
The shorter jar has a more compact, full form, giving the monochrome surface a denser, slightly more luminous quality.
In both pieces, the glaze shifts in tone as it moves down the vessel, pooling into warmer cherry red near the shoulders and settling into deeper shades toward the foot.
These variations are natural expressions of copper oxide’s unpredictable behavior in the kiln.
Made in southern Chinese kilns during the late Qing period, the jars are formed of high-fired ceramic typical of utilitarian wares of the time.
Their surfaces reflect the mottled characteristics produced by traditional reduction firing.
Copper glaze turns red only within a brief and unpredictable moment in the reduction atmosphere — a moment potters describe as “catching a sunrise in the kiln,” when the oxygen drops suddenly and the glaze blooms into red.
This fleeting transformation gives monochrome copper-red ware its famed difficulty and enduring appeal.
The bases show the expected buff clay of southern kilns, with kiln adhesions and small chips around the foot from separation after firing.
These traces confirm the jars’ origins as practical storage vessels, made with the same traditional skill that produced the period’s celebrated monochrome wares.
Dimensions:
Taller Jar: 12.5″ tall × 8″ diameter at the widest point × 6.25″ diameter at the base
Shorter Jar: 8.5″ tall × 8.5″ diameter

Condition: Wear and kiln chipping around the feet, typical of utilitarian vessels; glaze surfaces with slight wear. The smaller jar with chips on the inner flange.

Decoration: Monochrome copper-red glaze with natural tonal variation
Material: High-fired ceramic (stoneware body)
Style: Chinese monochrome stoneware glaze tradition
Origin: Southern Chinese kiln
Date: Late Qing, circa 1880–1890
Copper-Red Firing Note
Copper-red glazes develop their color only inside the kiln, never before. The potter applies a pale, unremarkable copper-bearing glaze to the unfired vessel, and nothing on its surface suggests the deep red to come. The transformation occurs solely during a narrow, unpredictable moment in the reduction firing, when the kiln’s oxygen falls just enough for the copper oxides to shift. In that instant, the glaze blooms into red — a change so brief and delicate that potters describe it as catching a sunrise in the kiln. Because that moment cannot be anticipated with certainty, even small shifts in temperature, airflow, or the vessel’s placement can turn the glaze brown, black, or green. Every successful monochrome copper-red piece is therefore the result of both mastery and atmospheric chance.