Ceramics with marbling, created by melding clays of assorted colors into the shape of a bowl, first appear in the repertory of Chinese ceramics in the ninth and tenth centuries. They were produced only in north China, and in small numbers, until around the eleventh or twelfth century. The invention of marble wares illustrates the constant experimentation and innovation found in the Chinese ceramics industry from the ninth to the fourteenth century. The animal-print-like designs seen here echo patterns found in earlier Roman glass, (see 1955.6.17) one of the most desired luxury goods in the ancient world that was traded to China as early as the second and third centuries.