A RARE PHOSPHATIC-SPLASHED GLAZED STONEWARE DRUM

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

Details

A RARE PHOSPHATIC-SPLASHED GLAZED STONEWARE DRUM
TANG DYNASTY

Of Lushan Duandianyao type, the attenuated hourglass-shaped body molded with seven bowstrings and covered in a finely speckled olive-brown glaze boldly decorated with roughly circular splashes of milky-blue with irregular trails and spots, the interior covered with a similar glaze, but without the splashes, and stopping short of the unglazed rims at either end, some damage and repair
15¼in. (38.4cm.) long

Lot Essay

Compare a similar drum in the Peking Museum illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 11, Tokyo, 1976, col. pl. 97; and another illustrated by Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 1, 'Early Wares: Prehistoric to Tenth Century', Taipei, 1991, p. 206 (top left)
Excavations at the Duandian kiln site in Lushan county, Henan province, have yielded fragments of similar phosphatic-splashed drums werer included in the O.C.S. exhibition, Kiln Sites of Ancient China, London, 1980, Catalogue nos. 403 and 404, and also in The Discovery of Ru Kiln, Hong Kong, 1991, pl. 23 (bottom left)