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PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT JAPANESE This piece is an extremely rare and outstanding Museum, London, is illustrated in R.L. Hobson,
PRIVATE COLLECTION example of phoenix-head ewers that were The Eumorfopoulos Collection, vol. 1, London,
inspired by Sassanian metal examples and 1925, col. pl. L, g. 389; and a further ewer sold in
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE GREEN- adapted to suit Chinese taste. The form and our London rooms, 7th November 1993, lot 139.
GLAZED PHOENIX-HEAD POTTERY molded relief decoration follow metal wares of See also a sancai ewer of this type, but molded
EWER the Middle East, while the phoenix-head and on the central panels with ower heads, in the
TANG DYNASTY ruyi-shaped panel bordered by further ruyi heads Shaanxi Provincial Museum, Xi’an, illustrated in
remain rmly rooted in Chinese tradition. Thus, it Out of China’s Earth: Archaeological Discoveries
the attened pear-shaped body supported on a embodies the commercial and cultural exchange in the People’s Republic of China, London, 1981,
high splayed foot and rising to a slender waisted that characterizes the art of the early Tang pl. 244; and another with a stippled ground, in the
neck surmounted by a erce phoenix head dynasty. Gansu Provincial Museum, Lanzhou, published
clasping a pearl in its beak, its crest opening in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua Daquan. Taozi juan
to form the quatrefoil mouth, a loop handle Phoenix-head ewers molded with applied masks [The quintessence of Chinese cultural relics.
stretching from the shoulder to the back of against a stippled ground, which are reminiscent Ceramics], Hong Kong, 1993, p. 126, pl. 440.
the phoenix’s head, the vessel crisply molded of granulated metalwork, are rare and those
with bands of overlapping lappets and radiating covered almost entirely in a monochrome green Margaret Medley in Metalwork and Chinese
vertical ribs at the foot, with teardrop-form panels glaze are even rarer. A sancai ewer of this design Ceramics, London, 1972 (p. 4), discusses the
to each side of the body, each centered with an and with a stippled ground, sold in our London far-reaching e ect on Tang potters of the
applied lion mask on a stippled ground framed rooms, 7th December 1993, lot 139; one lacking opening of diplomatic relations between the
by four ruyi-shaped motifs, applied overall with a the stipples from the Hakone Art Museum, Chinese Emperor Yangdi of the Sui dynasty and
vibrant green glaze, except for the eyes and pearl, Hakone, is illustrated in Mayuyama: Seventy the Sassanian Persian Empire (224-651), which
applied with straw and cream glazes, Japanese Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 1, pl. 233; another is led to the exchange of tributary gifts as well as
wood box (3) published in Hirano Tatsuo, Kotoken Senka, the arrival of Persian craftsmen at the Imperial
Height 10⅞ in., 27.7 cm Osaka, 1988, pl. 40; a fourth, from the George court in the Tang capital Chang’an (today’s Xi’an,
Eumorfopoulos collection, now in the British Shaanxi).
LITERATURE
Sekai Toji Zenshu 9 Zui To Hen / Collection of
World’s Ceramics, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1961, pl. 80.
$ 80,000-120,000
1961 9
80
102 SOTHEBY’S
