Page 70 - Sotheby's Junkunc Collection March 2019

113 A RARE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY FIGURE OF A SPOTTED BULL
TANG DYNASTY
唐 三彩陶牛

well modeled standing four square, the pointed ears alert and tail to one side, the dewlap hanging low and the neck with
incised folds of skin, the pinkish buff body covered with a straw-colored glaze, intermittently applied with dapples of glassy
sky blue against larger splashes of dark amber glaze that pool and cascade downwards

Length 8 in., 20.3 cm
$ 10,000-15,000

PROVENANCE 來源
Collection of Stephen Junkunc, III (d. 1978). 史蒂芬•瓊肯三世（1978年逝）收藏

Compared to preceding dynasties, Tang pottery includes fewer figurines of domestic animals, with a shift towards
modeling ‘nobler’ beasts such as the horse and camel. As William Watson writes in Tang and Liao Ceramics, London,
1984, p. 201, only members of the bovine family receive the same sculptural refinement. Robustly and expressively
modeled, the heavy yet graceful contours of the present animal convey a sense of naturalism and strength. Its
distinctive hump is prominently highlighted by a deliberately-placed splash of vivid blue.

It is rare to find blue-glazed examples of bull or oxen in this period, and even rarer to find a piece dappled with blue
spots. Compare a related sancai ox, similarly modeled and with large dark green-glazed spots over a clear glaze,
in the collection of the Musée Guimet, ibid., pl. 222. A sancai-glazed figure of a recumbent three-horned mythical
bull on a pedestal, in the collection of the Tenri Sankokan Museum Collection, Nara, displays a similarly dappled
and spotted coat, ibid., pl. 230. Compare also a blue, straw and amber-glazed recumbent buffalo, with the creature
glazed almost entirely in cobalt blue, illustrated in The Splendour of Sancai: The Sze Yuan Tang Collection, Littleton
and Hennessy, London, 2012, cat. no. 37.

唐代陶器，鮮有刻畫家畜者，馬與駱駝更具靈性之動物， 同時期帶藍彩之陶牛罕見難得，飾藍斑之品更是鳳毛麟
則更為多見，此風與前朝有別。然而 William Watson 於 角。比較一類似三彩陶牛，造形相近，透明釉上飾大片深
《Tang and Liao Ceramics》中講述，惟牛者，造像得 綠斑點，現藏於吉美博物館，前述出處，圖版222。另比
享相同待遇。本品造形碩壯生動，線條深刻雅致，傳神逼 一例，三彩三角靈獸一例，帶類似斑點，現藏於奈良縣天
真，雄渾有力。獨特背峰尤其突出，特以鮮艷藍斑點綴。 理大學附屬天理參考館，前述出處，編號230。另可比較
一件三彩臥牛例，圖載於利特爾頓與軒尼詩亞洲藝術，
《思源堂藏唐三彩》，倫敦，2012年，編號37。

68 JUNKUNC: ARTS OF ANCIENT CHINA