A RARE SMALL SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY DUCK-FORM OIL LAMP

Details

A RARE SMALL SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY DUCK-FORM OIL LAMP
TANG DYNASTY

The rounded body of the bird forming the bowl of the vessel, its backward turned neck and head spanning the open area between the wings to form the handle, and the open blossom grasped in the bird's beak forming the spout around a central aperture, the wings molded with curved feathers on a granulated ground, all under a green, amber and cream-splashed glaze continuing under the base (shallow rim chip)
4¾in. (12.1cm.) long, box

Lot Essay

A similar lamp excavated in Gong county, Henan province, and now in the Zhenzhou Municipal Museum, Henan province, is illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua (Gems of China's Cultural Relics), Wenwu Press, Beijing, 1990, no. 125; and another was included in the exhibition, Da Sancai, Tokyo, 1989, Catalogue, no. 33.

See, also, the similar example in the British Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, no. 27; and one in The Saint Louis Art Museum illustrated by William Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, New York, 1984, no. 134