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Lot Essay
The design of these vessels was derived from Sassanian metal flasks which came into China with merchants from Iran. Numerous ewers resembling the present lot have been published, including one excavated from Sanqiao, Xi'an, in 1959, and included in the exhibition catalogue, Treasures from Chang'an: Capital of the Silk Road, Hong Kong, 15 October 1993 - 2 January 1994, no. 30; and another in the Metropolitan Museum of Art illustrated by S. Valenstein, The Herzman Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1992, no. 6, previously included in the exhibition, Foreigners in Ancient Chinese Art, China Institute, New York, 27 March - 25 April 1969, no. 59, where E. Schloss also includes an example of a Sassanian silver ewer of similar shape, as well as a dish decorated with an archer on horseback.
Other ewers of this design with the addition of green glaze to the combination of blue, amber and cream are in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. 8, col. pl. 23; and one from the collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, included in the exhibition, The Arts of the Tang Dynasty, Los Angeles County Museum, 8 January - 17 February, 1957, no. 188.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. test no. C106u19 is consistent with the dating of this lot.
Other ewers of this design with the addition of green glaze to the combination of blue, amber and cream are in the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, Tokyo, 1982, vol. 8, col. pl. 23; and one from the collection of Mrs. Alfred Clark, included in the exhibition, The Arts of the Tang Dynasty, Los Angeles County Museum, 8 January - 17 February, 1957, no. 188.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. test no. C106u19 is consistent with the dating of this lot.