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Lot Essay
Marbling, known as jiao tai in Chinese, became a popular decorative technique on ceramics of the Tang dynasty, and was applied to a number of different forms, including jars, cups, bowls, dishes and censers. Sections of marbling were also inlaid into larger items, such as pillows, for special decorative effect. The popularity of marbled wares with the Tang aristocracy was confirmed by the discovery of a small number of horses made with marbled clay among the items in the tomb of the Tang Princess Yongtai, who was given a grand reinterment in AD 706.
The marbled appearance could be achieved either by combining clays of different colors when making the vessel, or by using two contrasting slips on the surface of the vessel. In either case the piece was afterwards covered with a transparent glaze. The most popular glazes were amber, as seen on the Falk covered jar, green or colorless. It can clearly be seen that the Falk jar has been made by mixing contrasting clays, and it can further be seen that the upper and lower halves were made separately and then luted together. This would have required considerable skill on the part of the potter, and on the Falk jar it was done very successfully. The effect was less successful on a smaller, similarly glazed jar without cover found at Xianyang, Shaanxi province in 1952. The tomb from which the Xianyang jar was excavated has been dated to AD 714. The jar, now in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, is illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daoquan - Taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, p. 247, no. 246. Another larger marbled jar with amber glaze, without a cover, is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. I, London, 1994, no. 230.
A marbled bowl with amber glaze in the Tokyo National Museum is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, Sui Tang, M. Sato and G. Hasabe (eds.), Tokyo, 1976, p. 101-2, no. 79. The popularity of Tang dynasty marbled wares in Japan has been emphasized by excavation of Chinese 8th century marbled pillow shards from the site of the Daian-ji Temple in Nara, illustrated in the same volume, p. 252, no. 237. Such marbled pillows were made at a number of kiln sites in north China, including the Gongxian kiln in Henan province. A small cup with ring handle with similar marbling and amber glaze, formerly in the Anders Hellstrom Collection, is now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockhom, and is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collectons, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, no. 25.
The marbled appearance could be achieved either by combining clays of different colors when making the vessel, or by using two contrasting slips on the surface of the vessel. In either case the piece was afterwards covered with a transparent glaze. The most popular glazes were amber, as seen on the Falk covered jar, green or colorless. It can clearly be seen that the Falk jar has been made by mixing contrasting clays, and it can further be seen that the upper and lower halves were made separately and then luted together. This would have required considerable skill on the part of the potter, and on the Falk jar it was done very successfully. The effect was less successful on a smaller, similarly glazed jar without cover found at Xianyang, Shaanxi province in 1952. The tomb from which the Xianyang jar was excavated has been dated to AD 714. The jar, now in the Shaanxi Provincial Museum, is illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daoquan - Taoci juan, Taipei, 1993, p. 247, no. 246. Another larger marbled jar with amber glaze, without a cover, is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. I, London, 1994, no. 230.
A marbled bowl with amber glaze in the Tokyo National Museum is illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, Sui Tang, M. Sato and G. Hasabe (eds.), Tokyo, 1976, p. 101-2, no. 79. The popularity of Tang dynasty marbled wares in Japan has been emphasized by excavation of Chinese 8th century marbled pillow shards from the site of the Daian-ji Temple in Nara, illustrated in the same volume, p. 252, no. 237. Such marbled pillows were made at a number of kiln sites in north China, including the Gongxian kiln in Henan province. A small cup with ring handle with similar marbling and amber glaze, formerly in the Anders Hellstrom Collection, is now in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockhom, and is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collectons, vol. 8, Tokyo, 1982, no. 25.