Antique Chinese & Japanese PorcelainEuropean Ceramics & Works of Art
Chinese pottery jar, Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220), of fanghu form raised on a spreading foot with curved sides rising to a flared rim; the quadrangular earthenware body decorated in polychrome pigments with tatoie monster mask-ring handles, a band of red-ground with white scrolling pattern, and abstract shapes below a white banded rim. SOLD
Dimensions:
Height: 49cm (19 1/4in.).
Notes:
A similar jar can be found in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2000.662.6a, b).
Fanghu jars were daily vessels used to store grain or alcohol, but were also interred in tombs as mingqi (‘spirit objects’) for use in the afterlife by the deceased. Pottery fanghu were modelled on bronze vessels, with the painted mask-ring handles imitating larger, more functional rings on bronze counterparts. William Watson dates a similar fanghu to the Western Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 9) in ‘Pre-Tang Ceramics of China: Chinese Pottery from 4000BC to 600 AD, London: 1991
Guest & Gray 58 Davies StreetLondonW1K 5LP
