Ju ware

In the National Palace Museum of Taipei (台北) there is an interesting exhibition about Ju ware or Rǔ (汝) porcelain.

The Chinese character for Ju/Ru consists of the radicals for water 氵 and woman 女, which together make a beautiful combination. But try avoiding the character when you go to Japan. In Japanese it is one way of writing a not very nice word for you, "unu". The Chinese variant simply is a place name, as far as I understand.

Ju ware was made during just a few decades around the year 1200. One should not be misled to think that it is full of radiant expression. It is striking in its very strict shapes and sobre blue colour. It is actually so discreet that it almost could fit in the porcelain department of an Ikea store, even though it obviously is of a bigger historic interest. If you go to visit the exposition, try to go there early in the morning. In the afternoons the room is full of tour guides explaining Ju ware to their groups like a big Tupperware party.