A jar of light greyish stoneware with rounded bottom curving gently to the stepped shoulder, a short straight neck, four rounded double loop handles applied to the shoulder, with a dome-shaped cover and pointed knob, resting on a sturdy straight foot with recessed base; the entire piece save for the foot rim, base, and inner lid covered with an olive green glaze with a satiny surface and exhibiting some crazing and discoloration well as spit outs, surface adhesions, and abrasions.
An almost precisely similar vessel, found without its cover, was discovered at the Yuyao kiln, (later renamed Yueyao) near Shanglinhu, a major center of Yue ware production in Zhejiang province and is described as a ping “bottle,” with four loop handles and a thin, light, greenish-yellow glaze, and is ascribed to the Five Dynasties period (fig. 1)
While generally not a common shape, counterparts of stouter form do exist and normally exhibit physical characteristics similar to the present jar, including color, texture, and quality of glaze, along with similar discoloration and other irregularities. For example, compare with a jar in the Nanyang University in Singapore (fig. 2) and other published examples, which include one in the Nezu Museum in Tokyo and another in the Shanghai Museum.1 These examples are assigned to the Tang dynasty in general by the authors of those publications, but one would assume that the dating was assumed by others in regard to these wares late in the Tang and closer to the Five Dynasties period.
1. For the Nezu piece see Tang Pottery and Porcelain, Tokyo 1988, pl. 47 and for the Shanghai example see the catalogue of an exhibition held in Tokyo: Chugoku Rekidai Toji Ten, Tokyo, 1984, no 31,
Fig. 1: Yue-ware jar, Tang dynasty, from a Yue kiln site, Zhejiang province, after Victoria and Albert Museum Chinese Translations, no. 6, “Yueh Ware Kiln-Sites in Chekiang,” Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1976, pl. VII:1.
Fig. 2: Yue-ware jar, Tang dynasty, Nanyang University, Singapore, Southeast Asian Ceramic Society exhibition catalogue: Chinese Celadons and Other Related Wares In Southeast Asia, Singapore, 1979. pl. 18.
Details:
