Page 107 - Sothebys Important Chinese Art 09/13/17

76

PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT JAPANESE This piece is striking for its elegant form and Museum of Fine Arts, vol. 1, Boston, 1964, pl. 94;
PRIVATE COLLECTION detailed decoration of palmettes on a stippled a third, included in the Oriental Ceramic Society
ground, and ranks amongst the best surviving exhibition Arts of the T’ang Dynasty, London,
A RARE SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY examples of Tang period rhytons. A brown- 1955, cat. no. 146, and sold in our London rooms,
RHYTON glazed dragon-shaped rhyton of this form, but 14th July 1970, lot 9; and a further example, sold
TANG DYNASTY with somewhat less complex decoration on the in our London rooms, 21st June 1983, lot 95.
body, from the Schiller Collection in the City Art
of horn shape, the curled dragon head terminal Gallery, Bristol, was included in the exhibition The The rhyton is a drinking vessel originally made
issuing a bifurcated foliate scroll joined to the Arts of the T’ang Dynasty, Los Angeles County from ox or bu alo horn, which was introduced
side of the pointed oval mouth of the vessel, the Museum, Los Angeles, 1957, cat. no. 184; and a into China through Central and Western Asia,
rounded sides molded with petal-scroll motifs on green-glazed example lacking the foliate scroll where it was made in silver and precious stones.
a granulated ground, splashed overall with green, and with a pearl in its mouth, illustrated in Sekai Rhytons appeared in China from as early as
amber and straw-colored glazes, wood stand, tōji zenshu/ Catalogue of World Ceramics, vol. the Han dynasty, and were made in a variety of
Japanese wood box (4) 11, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 129, sold twice in our London materials, including pottery, glass and silver.
Length 5¼ in., 13.5 cm rooms, 7th April 1981, lot 140, and again, 10th While a number of surviving rhytons from the
June 1986, lot 14. Compare also rhytons in the Tang period, such as the white-glazed example
PROVENANCE form of ducks, such as one in the Palace Museum, in the British Museum, London, illustrated in
Beijing, illustrated in Compendium of Collections Margaret Medley, T’ang Pottery & Porcelain,
Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 29th November 1976, lot in the Palace Museum. Ceramics, vol. 5, Sui London, 1981, pl. 4, were clearly modeled after
404. (581-618), Tang (618-907) and Five Dynasties Persian silver originals, the present example
Collection of the British Rail Pension Fund. (907-960) (II), Beijing, 2013, pl. 295; another has incorporated Chinese elements, such as its
Sotheby’s London, 12th December 1989, lot 62. published in The Charles B. Hoyt Collection in the dragon shape.
Spink & Son, London.

EXHIBITED

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1977-1985
(on loan).
Dallas Museum of Art, 1985-1988 (on loan).

$ 50,000-70,000

IMPORTANT CHINESE ART 105