SUI-EARLY TANG DYNASTY, 6TH-7TH CENTURY

The shape and decoration of this vessel are closely related to imported metalwork and leather bottles from the Silk Road, while the leaf decoration at the base of the ornamental seam and handle is Hellenistic in origin, as is possibly the head. Similar examples of this rare form include two illustrated in Homage to Heaven, Homage to Earth - Chinese Treasures of the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1992, p. 58, pl. 25; and the one illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, p. 81, no. 212. See, also, the similar ewer of larger size (11¼ in.) sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 2006, lot 200.