Tang Whiteware Tripod Jar with Medallions
Tang Dynasty, 618-907 AD, China
Height: 15 cm Diameter: 24 cm
A compressed globular formed jar of white earthenware standing on three claw-foot legs. It has four applied relief medallions of leaping mythical beasts separated by eight smaller floral and fig-leaf medallions. These applied features are covered with amber and green sancai glaze. Two areas of old rim restorations. A similar piece is illustrated from excavation photos in “Tang Pottery and Porcelain: Nezu Museum 1988. Pg. 133. pl. 37. Another with identical appliqués and form, but with green background, and attributed to the Gonxian kilns in Henan, can be found in the Chinese Ceramics from the MeiYinTang Collection, vol. 3, pl. 1286. This piece came out of an old Japanese collection and is accompanied by a fitted wooden and inscribed box from the Taisho period, early 20th c. Japan.
Provenance:
Private Japanese Collection
Private American collection
Zetterquist Galleries, New York 2014
Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection