
SANCAI-GLAZED POTTERY CUP
TANG DYNASTY (618-907)
6 cm high, 7.3 cm wide
The deep cup stands on a spreading foot, the rounded sides rising to a flared mouth rim. The cup is decorated with an impressed design of double circles arranged in three bands around the exterior. The inside and outside are applied with a splashed glaze in green, amber and cream. The foot and base are left unglazed revealing the white earthenware body.
Cups with this type of decoration are rare, although a closely related cup, with the same design, but covered with amber glaze, is preserved in the collection of the British Museum, London, accession number
1947,0712.24, and another one, formerly in the Seligmann Collection, is illustrated in R. L. Hobson, Chinese Pottery and Porcelain, Vol. I, Pottery and Early Wares, 1915, pl. 11, fig. 1.
The present cup is particularly charming for its vibrant
sancai glaze, which also covers the interior. Compare a
sancai-glazed cup of similar shape and size, but without the impressed design, illustrated in Liu Liang-yu, A Survey of Chinese Ceramics, Early Wares: Prehistoric to Tenth Century, 1991, p. 241.
Provenance:
Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London
British private collection
Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London
Published:
Ben Janssens Oriental Art, TEFAF Catalogue 2023, no. 9