YUAN DYNASTY (1279-1368)

Details

AN UNUSUAL QINGBAI FIGURAL WATERDROPPER
YUAN DYNASTY (1279-1368)
Molded in the form of a young boy lying atop the back of a recumbent mythical horned beast (xiniu), its head raised and mouth open and with a small hole in the back, covered with a clear glaze of rich aqua tone, the eyes picked out in iron brown
3½ in. (8.9 cm.) long

Provenance

Kaikodo, New York.

Exhibited

Kaikodo, Autumn 1999, no. 59.

Lot Essay

Despite their single horns, these creatures are usually referred to as water buffalo or oxen, a popular decorative subject in the Southern Song and Yuan periods, where water buffalo are usually depicted with boys perched on their backs. Six such examples, including one with iron spots, are illustrated in Special Exhibition of Cultural Relics Found off Sinan Coast, National Museum of Korea, Seoul, 1977, nos. 192-7, where they are dated to the Yuan dynasty.

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