Yaozhou ware is a type of celadon or greenware in Chinese pottery, which was at its height during the Northern Song dynasty. It is the largest and typically the best of the wares in the group of Northern Celadon wares. It is especially famous for the rich effects achieved by decoration in shallow carving under a green celadon glaze which sinks into the depressions of the carving giving contrasts of light and dark shades. Yaozhou and the other Northern Celadons have a clay body that fires to a light grey under glaze,and a "yellowish to olive-brown where exposed".The glaze is transparent, at least until later examples, and lacks the opalescence that Longquan celadon received from millions of tiny gas bubbles trapped in the glaze, as well as the grey and blue tints that the green of southern wares could achieve.Instead the colour "tends to yellowish or muddy brown tones", generally where the reducing atmosphere is not strong enough.The wares are fired to stoneware, in Western terms, though qualifying as "high-fired" in Chinese terms, which is often translated as porcelain. Like other celadons, the glaze colour is given by iron oxide fired in a reducing atmosphere. The kilns were fired by coal, and until the final years saggars were used. A characteristic northern type of "horseshoe-shaped" or mantou kiln was used, named after the Chinese bun it resembles in shape; one of a group excavated at Yaozhou was unusually well-preserved, allowing accurate plans to be made. Towards the end, after saggars were abandoned, a ring was left unglazed in the centre of vessels, which avoided pieces stacked directly in piles from sticking together, but detracts from their appearance.Bowls are the most common shape, but there are a wide range of others, including pillows, vases and ewers, and human and animal figurines. This is a rare porcelain Yaozhou Kiln green glaze in the form of a horse from Northern Song Dynasty. The horse is large. It measures Size: length 13.5 x width 5 x high 17 inch. Provenance: Sotheby's Hongkong Sale.

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