This fine and interesting pottery vessel was made over 3,000 years ago during the Chinese Neolithic or early Bronze Age. The form is of a cooking vessel and the three wide udder-shaped legs allow it to be stood in a fire with as much heat as possible being transmitted to its contents. It is not always easy to determine exactly which culture such vessels come from as similar vessels were made by various Chinese cultures. However, we un...
This bowl is painted overall with a floral design in orange, green, and yellow enamels with black enamel outlines. The interior rim is decorated with a similar motif, and a single flower is painted on the interior base. The foot is encircled with double lines in underglaze cobalt blue and an underglaze cobalt blue design is painted on the base. The bowl has typical rim-fritting, and there is a small chip to the interior of the foot that has b...
Perhaps the most desirable and collectable pottery sculpture from the Tang Dynasty is the female courtier, or "fat lady". This fine example was made during the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 - 906).
The lady stands with her head turned a little to her left and tilted slightly at a quizzical" angle. She is wearing a particularly voluminous long robe. Her hands are clearly held together across her chest beneath her ...
This fine and impressive pottery jar (hu) was made during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). It is made from a fairly high-fired reddish pottery and coated in a particularly attractive glossy thick streaky green and finely-crackled glaze, the colour of which varies according to its thickness. Interestingly, the drips of glaze to the mouth rim and the pooling of glaze to the flat base show that this jar was fired upsid...
Arguably the most desirable pottery sculpture from the Tang Dynasty is the female courtier, or "fat lady". This figure was made around the mid 8th century and is a particularly elegant example. The lady stands with her hands clasped together under her flowing robe and her head turned a little to the left. Note also the elaborate hairstyle. It is relatively highly-fired and made from a bu...
This unusually large and imposing pottery jar, or "hu" was made during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - AD 220). It is made from a fine-grained grey pottery that is relatively highly-fired. This is an exceptional example of its type of fine form with its wide body and tall neck that flares inwards and then out again to the wide mouth. It has a pleasingly smooth burnished surface that in many places has a silver...
Each vase is decorated overall with various flowers on a medium-blue enamel ground within a continuous geometric fretwork pattern of gilt wires. Both the rim and base is gilded, now having some wear showing on each vase. The square area on the base is left from an old sticker removed in the past. Both vases have a melon form label body with a flaring mouth rim that is partially gilded inside. The interiors are not enameled and the old bronze has taken on a gr...
These bottles are decorated in underglaze cobalt blue and colored enamels with a design of various painted fans floating on an iron red enamel ground that is covered with gilt spirals. The interiors and mouthrims are clear glazed. The bases are glazed clear and the footrings are unglazed, exposing the fine white porcelain paste. They are signed Kozan (Dai Nippon Kozan Sei) in underglaze blue. Both are in very good condition. Acquired from a collector in Fredericksburg, Virginia ...
This deep bowl is stoutly potted, being rather heavy toward the base, with the wall thinning gradually to the slightly flaring rim. It rests on a tall, thick footring, with a deep base that is glazed down to the dense, white porcelain paste that is exposed with some kiln grit adhering. The design in underglaze cobalt blue is of chrysanthemums, grasses and three stylized bats. The interior has a broad unglazed ring around the bottom to allow it to be stacked during ...