Page 14 - Classical Chinese Ceramics Vol 2 June 2016
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fig. 2 White-glazed ‘elephant’ candle stand, the Meiyintang Collection,
image courtesy of the Eskenazi Ltd.
（圖二）唐 白釉象形燭臺 瑞士玫茵堂珍藏
3102 CONTINUED with the elephant carrying a jar with six lotus flowers. A very
similar example was exhibited in Ceramic Sculpture from Han to
The representation of white elephants in ceramics first appeared Tang China, Eskenazi Ltd., New York, 1997 and now in the
possibly in the late 6th century when high-fired white stoneware Meiyintang Collection housed in the Rietberg Museum, Zurich,
came to prominence in Northern China. This was an important discussed and illustrated by Regina Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from
step forward in Chinese ceramic history. The repertoire of early the Meiyintang Collection, London, 2006, Catalogue, no. 1184
white wares included both complicated sculptural forms such as (fig. 2). The others with foliate-bordered saddle cloths and oval
the present example and minimalistic forms such as the covered plinth are in the Shanghai Museum, published in Wenwu (Cultural
jar found in the tomb of Jiwei in Xian, Shaanxi province (dated Relics), 1957, no. 8, p. 73; and from the Goldschmidt Collection,
to 610 AD), illustrated in Masahiko Sato and Gakuji Hasebe, illustrated in Otto Kümmel, Jorg Trübner zum Gedächtnis. Ergebnisse
Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 11: Sui and Tang dynasties, pl. 10. seiner letzten chinesischen Reisen, Berlin, 1930, pl. 74 and was
The technological advancement and sophistication of early white sold at Sotheby’s New York, 19 September 2001, lot 96. The
ceramics indicate a high status of these wares. The most famous of Goldschmidt Collection included another closely related white
the kilns producing early white wares were those of Xing in Hebei elephant candle stand, but with a figure of foreigner clasping
province (modern day Lincheng), Xiangzhou in Henan province the single lotus-shaped socket, illustrated ibid., pl. 75 and sold at
(modern day Anyang), and Gongxian also in Henan. The exact Sotheby’s New York, 24 March 1998, lot 571. Other elephant
kiln for the present elephant candle stand has yet to be identified candle stands of similar dating are much smaller and more stylised.
as none of these cited kiln sites as yet yielded shards that can be Compare two such pieces illustrated in the Treasures from the
related to this group. Nevertheless this magnificent ‘elephant’ Rietberg Museum, New York, 1980, Catalogue, no. 46 and fig. 46a.
candle stand has all the qualities we would expect of a religious
ware intended for important aristocrats or the imperial family. The result of Oxford Authentication thermoluminescence test no.
PH 015/234 is consistent with the dating of this lot.
Except for the Nelson-Atkins Museum and the Nezu examples
cited above, there are only three other candle stands of this type,
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