TANG DYNASTY (AD 618-907)

A very similar early white ware ewer of comparable size is illustrated in the J.J. Lally & Co. exhibition catalogue, Chinese Porcelain and Silver in the Song Dynasty, New York, 2002, no. 2, where comparisons are made with smaller versions of the form in the Freer Gallery, Washington D.C.; the Hans Popper Collection; the Carl Kempe Collection; the Meiyintang Collection; and the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco.

The fine white body of this ewer and the reduction-fired glaze are both similar to those of 10^th-century wares from the Ding kiln. Early Ding wares were fired in a reducing atmosphere, resulting in the 'cold' white color, as seen on this ewer, in contrast to the later Ding wares, fired in an oxidized atmosphere, which have a warm ivory tone. Interestingly, the spout on the current ewer shares its unusual dragon-head form with Ding ware kundika vessels excavated from both the Jingzhi and Jingzhongyuan Temple pagodas at Dingxian. These pagoda deposits are dated to AD 977 and AD 995, respectively. See Treasures from the Underground Palaces, Idemitsu Museum of Arts, Tokyo, 1997, nos. 59 and 87; and Zhongguo meishu quanji; gongyi meishu bian 2; taoci zhong, Shanghai, 1988, p. 108, no. 119.