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A fine sancai-glazed pottery amphora, the elegant, tapered body rises from a splayed flat foot to a slender, waisted neck and terminates in a flared mouth with an everted rim. The vase is set with two double-stranded loop handles which bear applied knobs of clay and terminate in stylised dragon’s heads which bite the rim. The upper third of the vessel is covered with splashes of green, amber and cream glazes which stop in an uneven line revealing the buff body below.
Tang dynasty
Height: 14 3/4”, 37.5 cm
The dating is consistent with Oxford Authentication’s Report C299a40.
Formerly in the collection of Dr. Hugh Shire, a distinguished member of the Oriental Ceramic Society who served in the Allied Fleet when Hong Kong was liberated and subsequently went to Shanghai
Exhibited: The Arts of the T’ang Dynasty, The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1955, no. 142
For similar examples, see Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, no. 58; Shen, The Shanghai Museum of Art, no. 33, p. 88; Young, Early Chinese Ceramics From New York State Museums, no. 20, pp. 60-1; and Jacobsen, “Ceramic Tomb Sets of Early T’ang”, fig. 3, p. 9.
