Page 109 - Bonhams Wen Tang Collectiont, October 2014 Hong Kong

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A straw-glazed dragon-handled baluster
amphora vase
Tang Dynasty
The tapered ovoid body rising to a ribbed neck below the rounded
mouth, with a pair of dragon-shaped handles biting the rim, covered
with a yellow-beige glaze ending in an irregular line on the lower body
exposing the pale buff ware.
41cm high

HK$150,000 - 200,000
US$19,000 - 26,000

唐 白釉雙龍耳瓶

The term ‘amphora’ derives from ancient Greek jars called ‘amphorae’
with baluster bodies and handles flanking the neck. Recent
scholarship has however suggested that the shape came to China
from Roman glass and metalwork that was traded along the Silk
Road.
A similarly glazed and shaped amphora is in the Palace Museum
Collection, Beijing, illustrated in Ceramics Gallery of the Palace
Museum, Part 1, Beijing, 2008, p.122, no.68. Another related
example, formerly in the Mrs. H.O. Havemeyer Collection, in the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, is illustrated by Suzanne G.
Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p.45,
no.17. Several related pottery amphoras with dragon handles but with
different mouth rims and details, have been sold at auction including
one at Sotheby’s New York, 19-20 March 2013, lot 22 and another at
Christie’s New York, 19 September 2007, lot 232.
The result of C-Link Research & Development Ltd.
thermoluminescence test no.868AB09 is consistent with the dating
of this lot.
瓶蒜頭口，頸上突出四道弦紋，腹部豐滿，漸往下收窄，平
底。口沿與肩之間以兩條龍形手柄相連，龍頭探進瓶口，龍
尾貼著肩，成對稱之形，薄施釉至腰間，端莊典雅。

此瓶形制是受外來文化影響而成，通過絲綢之路傳入中國
並被本民族文化吸收。北京故宮博物院藏一件唐代白釉
雙龍耳瓶，與本拍品相近，雖為盤口，但均飾突出之弦
紋，比本拍品略大，見故宮博物院編，《故宮陶瓷館．
上編》，北京，2008年，頁122，圖版68。美國大都
會博物館藏有一件H.O.Havemeyer舊藏隋代白釉雙龍耳
瓶，其頸部缺少如北京故宮及奉文堂藏白釉瓶瓶頸上
的弦紋，見Suzanne G. Valenstein著，《A Handbook
of Chinese Ceramics》，紐約，1989，頁45，圖17。
傳世品中相似的例子，見紐約蘇富比曾售出一件白
釉瓶，2013年3月19-20日，編號22以及紐 約佳士
得，2007年9月19日，編號232。
此拍品經香港中科研發有限公司熱釋光年法測試（測試編號
868AB09），證實與本圖錄之定代符合。

the feng wen tang collection of early chinese Ceramics | 107