Lot Essay
It is very likely this technique derives from the carved sancai-glazed Cizhou examples of the Liao period; see the circular box and cover and the pear-shaped vase in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol.9, figs. 30 and 31; and the vase in the British Museum, illustrated by M. Medley, T'ang Pottery and Porcelain, p.139, fig.139. Also the 12th/13th Century group of Cizhou wares, similarly carved and under sancai glazes; see the pear-shaped vase in the Indianapolis Museum and the rectangular pillow in the Buffalo Museum of Science, illustrated by Y. Mino, Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., pls. 101 and 102. It is interesting to note that in both these aforementioned groups, the glazes are generally green, yellow and colourless, over a white slip, as in the case of the present lot.