Page 100 - Bonhams Wen Tang Collectiont, October 2014 Hong Kong

144 The ‘Xing’ kilns or Xingyao were located in Neiqiu and Lincheng
counties of Hebei province and they were arguably the most
A white-glazed iron-spot-decorated ‘simulated successful producers of white wares in terms of the material used,
leather’ oviform flask potting, glazing and firing of pieces during the Tang dynasty. According
Tang Dynasty to Regina Krahl, the quality of Xingyao wares increased substantially
from the mid-Tang period onward, with the body becoming more
The flask modelled after leather skins carried by desert and nomad porcellaneous and the glaze achieving a very smooth quality with a
travellers containing wine or water, detailed with naturalistic seamed distinct blue tone. See Regina Krahl, ‘Bright as Silver, White as Snow
edges, chevron-shaped panels enclosing decorative bands to each -White Wares of North and South China’, in Bright as Silver, White as
side, with corded tassels trailing from the short spout beside the loop Snow: Chinese White Ceramics from Late Tang to Yuan Dynasty, Hong
handle, covered overall with a pale grey-green glaze with iron-spot Kong, 1998, pp. 15-24.
highlights.
19.5cm high The oviform and the leather-like panels as seen on the present lot
were clearly imitations of the pouch-shaped leather flasks used by
HK$150,000 - 200,000 the Khitans who were deeply rooted with nomadic and horse-rising
US$19,000 - 26,000 culture. According the the archaeological report by Yang Wenshan
and Lin Yushan, stoneware flasks of this form were produced in the
唐 白釉褐彩鞍 紋皮囊壺 ‘Xing’ kilns during the Tang Dynasty, see ‘tangdai xingyao yizhi diaocha
baogao’ in Wenwu, Vol.9, Beijing, 1981, pp.6-7.

A very similar Xingyao stoneware flask, with chevron-shaped panels
to the sides and corded tassels, excavated from a Tang Dynasty
site at Shapo, in the eastern Suburbs of Xi’an, Shaanxi Province in
1996, and now in the Xi’an City Cultural Relics Protection Bureau, is
illustrated in Chinese Ceramics, From the Paleolithic Period through
the Qing Dynasty, Yale University Press New Haven, 2010, p.241,
fig.5.43; Another similar flask was excavated in Gucheng county,
Hebei province in 1996, and now in the Hengshui Municipal Cultural
Relics Erection Bureau, see The Research on Celadon of Yue Kiln and
White-glazed Porcelain of Xing Kiln, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Society,
Beijing, p.201, pl.4. A plainer stoneware flask, also modelled after a
leather bag, dated to the Tang Dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing,
is illustrated in ibid, p.202, pl.5; and another one in the Victoria and
Albert Museum, London, is illustrated by Rose Kerr, Song Dynasty
Ceramics, London, 2004, p.42, no.34.

The results of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence
test no.P106x43 and C-Link Research & Development Ltd.
thermoluminescence test no.9442TF08, are both consistent with the
dating of this lot.

Xi’an City Cultural Relics Protection Bureau
西安市文物保護考古所
98 | Bonhams