拍品專文
The shape of this rare jar is similar to that of glazed pottery jars of the same period (see lot 31 in the present sale). It is far more rare to find this shape in steatite and especially of this size. Another uncarved steatite jar of this shape, though slightly larger (6.1/8in.) was offered at Sotheby's, London, July 10, 1979, lot 30.
A smaller lathe-turned jar with cover is illustrated in Zui to no Bitjutsu, Osaka Municipal Art Museum, 1975, p. 49, nos. 4-6; and another covered jar, also smaller and not as full of form, excavated from tomb no. 59, Guanliu, near Luoyang, dated to the middle of the 8th century, is illustrated in Kaogu, 1972:3, p. 33, fig. 2.
Compare also, a bronze jar of similar form and proportions decorated with panels of foliate decoration which has a carved appearance, in the Collection of His Excellency M. Hugues Le Gallais, Venice, illustrated by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Chinese Art, rev. ed., New York, 1980, p. 86, no. 58.
One early Tang ovoid jar with figure in relief is illustrated in Wenwu, 1983, no. 6, p. 94, figs. 1-3, excavated at Lianyungang city.
A plain-turned bowl from the Winkworth Collection is illustrated by Soame Jenyns, Chinese Art, The Minor Arts III, Fribourg, 1981, pl. 179, who describes the material as "a mottled limestone said to have been mined in Astrakhan and called 'snakestone' by the Chinese, which was very popular in China during the Tang period.
A smaller lathe-turned jar with cover is illustrated in Zui to no Bitjutsu, Osaka Municipal Art Museum, 1975, p. 49, nos. 4-6; and another covered jar, also smaller and not as full of form, excavated from tomb no. 59, Guanliu, near Luoyang, dated to the middle of the 8th century, is illustrated in Kaogu, 1972:3, p. 33, fig. 2.
Compare also, a bronze jar of similar form and proportions decorated with panels of foliate decoration which has a carved appearance, in the Collection of His Excellency M. Hugues Le Gallais, Venice, illustrated by Daisy Lion-Goldschmidt, Chinese Art, rev. ed., New York, 1980, p. 86, no. 58.
One early Tang ovoid jar with figure in relief is illustrated in Wenwu, 1983, no. 6, p. 94, figs. 1-3, excavated at Lianyungang city.
A plain-turned bowl from the Winkworth Collection is illustrated by Soame Jenyns, Chinese Art, The Minor Arts III, Fribourg, 1981, pl. 179, who describes the material as "a mottled limestone said to have been mined in Astrakhan and called 'snakestone' by the Chinese, which was very popular in China during the Tang period.