WINTER EXHIBITION 2008 - Roger Keverne

34
An unusual stoneware jar
Tang dynasty
Height: 8B in, 20.6 cm
supported on a solid foot with a bevelled
edge, the sides flare steeply to a high shoulder,
curve inwards to a short, waisted neck and
terminate in a rolled, unglazed rim; two
loop handles are applied to the shoulder.
The buff stoneware body is covered with
translucent olive-green glaze, falling
unevenly well short of the foot, suffused
with large splashes of milky-blue.
This dating is consistent with Oxford
Authentication’s report C108j64.
Formerly in a Western private collection.
This type of jar was made at the Huangdao
kiln in Jia county, Henan province, which
was discovered in 1964.
For a very similar example, see Porcelain of
the Jin and Tang Dynasties: The Complete
Collection of Treasures of the Palace
Museum, no. 175, p. 190; and note also
White and Otsuka, Pathways to the
Afterlife: Early Chinese Art from the Sze
Hong Collection, fig. 41a, p. 93, where it is
noted that “There is evidence that at least
some of the splashed glazes were applied
while the jar was upside-down.”
35
ROGER KEVERNE WINTER 2008 47
An unusual sancai-glazed pottery ewer
Tang dynasty
Diameter: 3I in, 8.9 cm
supported on a conical foot ring with a
neatly bevelled edge, the sides round to
a straight, thickened waist, then curve at
the shoulder to an upright mouth. A short,
cylindrical spout is set on the shoulder.
The interior is glazed amber and the
exterior is splashed with blue, amber
and green glazes, stopping in a neat line
at the waist to reveal the fine cream
earthenware body.
This dating is consistent with Oxford’s
report 766t14.
Formerly in a Western private collection.
This particularly rare example is obviously
based on a metal original, as such spouted
vessels are usually globular in shape: see,
for example, Krahl, Chinese Ceramics
from the Meiyintang Collection, Vol. One,
no. 261, p. 151. Note a covered box in
The Charles B. Hoyt Collection, no. 120,
p. 31, also of metal shape and with a very
similar glaze.