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Lot Essay
Shell forms are known in Chinese ceramics as early as the Tang dynasty, when three-color glazed pottery conch shell brushwashers were made. The conch shell is of course familiar as a decorative motif throughout Chinese art, being one of Buddhism's eight precious symbols. As a vessel capable of making sound, it symbolized the strength of the Buddha's teachings. In the 18th century this tradition continued with the making of shell brushwashers, particularly robin's egg-glazed. In the present example, it seems to have merged with the European notion of animal-form tureens.