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Lot Essay
A very similar bronze vessel of this very rare type, also with elephant-head spout, but apparently missing its separate nozzle, and shown standing on a bronze circular dish is illustrated in Ceramic Art of the World, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 11, Sui and T'ang Dynasties, p. 291, fig. 122. A bronze bottle of this shape, but without spout, was included in the exhibition, The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, Los Angeles County Museum, 8 January - 17 February 1957, no. 113. The same shape can be seen in two glazed pottery bottles also illustrated in Ceramic Art of the World, p. 291, figs. 1123 and 124.
A porcelaneous version of a kundika with elephant-head spout dated to the Sui dynasty, covered with a now crackled glaze and with more bulbous body is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; Gongyi meishu bian; Taoci (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts; Arts and Crafts; Ceramics), Shanghai, 1988, vol. 2, p. 14, no. 16. Another clear-glazed white porcelaneous kundika with cup-shaped mouth on the spout and a tall tapering nozzle similar to that of the present example, but also with a more bulbous body, was included in the exhibition, The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, no. 238.
See, also, a related silvery bronze kundika of different body shape and with a human-head cast at the base of the spout sold at Sotheby's, London, 6 June 1995, lot 86.
A porcelaneous version of a kundika with elephant-head spout dated to the Sui dynasty, covered with a now crackled glaze and with more bulbous body is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; Gongyi meishu bian; Taoci (The Great Treasury of Chinese Fine Arts; Arts and Crafts; Ceramics), Shanghai, 1988, vol. 2, p. 14, no. 16. Another clear-glazed white porcelaneous kundika with cup-shaped mouth on the spout and a tall tapering nozzle similar to that of the present example, but also with a more bulbous body, was included in the exhibition, The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, no. 238.
See, also, a related silvery bronze kundika of different body shape and with a human-head cast at the base of the spout sold at Sotheby's, London, 6 June 1995, lot 86.