LIAO DYNASTY (907-1125)

Traditionally known as a 'pilgrim's flask', the shape of these containers derived from leather prototypes and has retained many features such as the seam and the hanging lug of the originals. It is very rare to find two applied figures on the flask. A flask and cover with very similar designs and also with two applied figures in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen Chinese Art in Overseas Collections Pottery and Porcelain (II), p. 88, no. 86; another flask with two figures on the rim but slightly different decoration on the body from the Chang Foundation, Taipei, is illustrated in Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, p. 78, col. pl. 20; and another, with greenish-brown glaze and two figures was sold in Sotheby's London, 5th December 1995, lot 359. An example with one figure is in the Fengtian Museum, illustrated in Koyama Fujio ed., Sekai Toji Zenshu, 1961, vol. 10, p. 244, fig. 148.