SIX DYNASTIES (AD 220-589)

Used for drinking, parrot-form cups were popular during the Six Dynasties to Tang periods, and were made by different kilns across China. Parrot-form cups made in the southern regions of China were celadon of circular form, such as the present cup, and another similar example with moulded decoration in the Hubei Province Tianmen Museum (fig. 1). Parrot-form cups made in northern China were white wares of more elongated form, such as an example discovered at the Xing kilns, Hebei province, illustrated in ‘Xingyao yizhi diaocha, shijue baogao’, Kaoguxue jikan, vol. 14, 2004, fig. 22-5; and another example in a Japanese private collection, illustrated in Song Ceramics, Asahi Shimbun, 1999, p. 89, no. 52.