Blue-splashed Earthenware Spouted Bowl                                                                                                         

Tang dynasty, first half of 8th century               

Buff earthenware covered with a cream-coloured glaze and cobalt-blue splashes

Probably Gongxian kilns, Henan Province

Diameter 21.5 cm   Height 8.9 cm   Length of spout 3.5 cm

The walls of this elegant bowl rise steeply from the splayed foot to the elegantly curved and finely potted lip. A sharply cut spout is attached to the bowl and the exterior is embellished with a raised double ridge. The entire bowl is covered with a finely crackled, cream-coloured glaze and cobalt-blue splashes, which form a dynamic, expressionistic pattern. The glaze stops short of the splayed foot revealing the smooth, buff earthenware body. This spouted bowl is exceptional for its large size and lustrous glaze.

Similar Examples:

The shape of this bowl, particularly the spout and the raised double ridge on the exterior, clearly shows indebtedness to Tang dynasty metalwork, particularly silver ware. Blue-splashed Tang dynasty ceramics are exceedingly rare and no other spouted bowl, particularly of this exceptionally large size appears to have been recorded.

For a Sancai-glazed bowl of very similar shape, without the spout, excavated from the tomb of Princess Yongtai, dated 706:

Hasebe Gakuji and Sato Masahiko, Sekai Tōji Zenshū, Vol. 11, Sui and Tang Dynasties, Shōgakukan, 1976, p. 101, pl. 77.

For a small box in the Idemitsu Museum of Arts with very similar cream-coloured glaze and cobalt-blue splashes:

Yuba Tadanori, Sancai, Chūgoku no Tōji, Vol. 3, Tokyo: Heibonsha, 1995, pl. 65.

For a sherd with cream-coloured glaze and cobalt-blue splashes excavated from the Gongxian kiln site in Henan Province:

P. Hughes-Stanton and Rose Kerr, Kiln Sites of Ancient China, London, 1980, no. 371.

Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, Vol. 1: Early Wares, Hong Kong, 1991, p. 254.