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Lot Essay
This phoenix-headed ewer not only displays superb workmanship, but is also one of the rarest of its type owing to the application of the precious cobalt blue, which would have been an extremely prized material imported from Central Asia during the Tang dynasty, reflecting the cosmopolitan nature of Tang society as well as the wealth and status of its original owner.
The exotic design exhibited on this ewer, such as the hunting scene and rich foliage on the body, was inspired by Sasanian metal flasks which came into China through merchants and diplomats from Central Asia. One possible prototype is a fifth-century Sasanian gilt-silver flask of similar shape but without a phoenix head, decorated with figural motifs, unearthed from the tomb of Li Xian in Ningxia, exhibited in The Silk Road: Treasures of Tang China, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1991, catalogue, p. 24. An earlier Chinese example which might have inspired the design of the current ewer is a celadon-glazed phoenix-head ewer with rich relief designs and a dragon handle, dating to the Sui to early Tang dynasty, now in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 11, Sui Tang, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 6.
While a number of similar ewers can be found in important museums and institutions worldwide, extremely few are glazed with cobalt blue like the current example. One such ewer is in the collection of Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1982, col. pl. 35. Other sancai phoenix-head ewers without cobalt blue include one in the British Museum Collection, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, fig. 199; another one, which is similarly decorated on one side with a triumphant phoenix, but on the other side with a foreigner riding over a lion, illustrated in Seikai Toji Zenshu, op. cit., pl. 40-41; and one in the Tokyo National Museum Collection, illustrated by Margaret Medley, T’ang Pottery & Porcelain, London, 1981, pl. 19.
The exotic design exhibited on this ewer, such as the hunting scene and rich foliage on the body, was inspired by Sasanian metal flasks which came into China through merchants and diplomats from Central Asia. One possible prototype is a fifth-century Sasanian gilt-silver flask of similar shape but without a phoenix head, decorated with figural motifs, unearthed from the tomb of Li Xian in Ningxia, exhibited in The Silk Road: Treasures of Tang China, The Empress Place Museum, Singapore, 1991, catalogue, p. 24. An earlier Chinese example which might have inspired the design of the current ewer is a celadon-glazed phoenix-head ewer with rich relief designs and a dragon handle, dating to the Sui to early Tang dynasty, now in the Beijing Palace Museum Collection, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 11, Sui Tang, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 6.
While a number of similar ewers can be found in important museums and institutions worldwide, extremely few are glazed with cobalt blue like the current example. One such ewer is in the collection of Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1982, col. pl. 35. Other sancai phoenix-head ewers without cobalt blue include one in the British Museum Collection, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, fig. 199; another one, which is similarly decorated on one side with a triumphant phoenix, but on the other side with a foreigner riding over a lion, illustrated in Seikai Toji Zenshu, op. cit., pl. 40-41; and one in the Tokyo National Museum Collection, illustrated by Margaret Medley, T’ang Pottery & Porcelain, London, 1981, pl. 19.