A Rare Small Dark-Brown and White-Glazed Tripod Cup

TANG DYNASTY, 8TH-10TH CENTURY

Details

A Rare Small Dark-Brown and White-Glazed Tripod Cup
Tang dynasty, 8th-10th century
The shallow body flaring slightly towards the rim, raised on three small cabriole legs and with a short handle with trifid end projecting from one side, the exterior covered with a 'tea-dust'-suffused glaze of dark brown color continuing under the feet, and the interior with a white glaze below the unglazed mouth rim
4 3/4in. (12cm.) across handle
Falk Collection no. 110.

Provenance

C.T. Loo, New York, December 1949.

Lot Essay

The shape of this tripod cup is most likely based on metal prototypes from the Tang period. Compare to a recently excavated gold version of this cup, identified as a vessel for warming wine, tea, medicines, or perhaps even for use as a retort in alchemical preparations, illustrated by C. Michaelson in Gilded Dragons: Buried Treasures from China's Golden Ages, The British Museum, London, 1999, p. 116-117, no. 80 and 80a. Compare, also, an engraved silver tripod cup with a projecting handle which appears in Tangdai Jinyinqi, Beijing, 1985, no. 80.

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