EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 7TH CENTURY

A pottery tortoise-form ink palette with cover in the shape of a tortoise shell excavated from a Tang dynasty tomb in Shangcaisian, Henan province, in 1962, is illustrated in Wenwu, 1964:2, pls. VIII:7 and 8. For another with a double tray in the Shanghai Museum see Wenwu, 1965:12, p. 55, figs. 1 and 2; and a grey pottery example similar to the present red pottery inkstone was sold in these rooms, 4 June 1987, lot 180. The pottery examples are most likely based on stone prototypes of early Tang date, such as the steatite example with cover illustrated in the catalogue of the Inaugural Exhibition, vol. 2, Chinese Metalwares and Decorative Arts, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, England, April 1993, no. 328.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C298e52 is consistent with the dating of this lot.