A blue and sancai-glazed tripod dish, Tang dynasty | 唐　三彩加藍寶相花紋三足盤

Hirano Kotoken.

Hirano Kotoken Honten Shinchiku Kinen Chugoku Toji-ten [Commemoration of the Gallery Refurbishment: Chinese Porcelains], Hirano Kotoken, Osaka, 1990, cat. no. 11.

Tokubetsu Ten Chugoku no Toji [Special Exhibition: Chinese Ceramics], Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, p. 82, no. 116.

Chugoku Toji Meihin Ten Ise Korekushon no Shiho / Masterpieces of Chinese Ceramic Art Exhibition, Ishikawa Prefectural Museum of Art, Ishikawa, 2012, cat. no. 22.

Porcelaine. Chefs-d'œuvre de la Collection Ise, Musée Guimet, Paris, 2017, cat. no. 6.

Ise Korekushon Sekai wo Miryoshita Chugokutoji / The Enchanting Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 2017, cat. no. 11.

Chugoku Toji. Ise Korekushon / Chinese Ceramics. The Ise Collection, Tokyo, 2012, pp. 16-17.

Christian Boehm, 'A Tea Master's Vision: Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection', Arts of Asia, July-August 2018, fig. 4.

Of all the ceramic wares made during the Tang dynasty, tripod dishes with such flamboyant floral designs in brilliant sancai enamels perhaps best illustrate the international spirit of the period. The intensification of trade via the Silk Route resulted in the emergence of new commercial cities throughout China, including the capital Chang’an, modern Xi’an, Shaanxi province, which became the largest city in the world. These bustling urban centres attracted an influx of foreigners who came from such disparate places as Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Rome, India, and Japan. The goods they brought with them and their tastes strongly influenced the repertoire of Tang craftsmen. The moulded floral motif on this dish and the use of cobalt are examples of this interaction: the former was inspired by designs on Central Asian textiles, while the latter was an expensive pigment imported from Persia.

Tang potters took inspiration from a wide variety of sources and often looked for inspiration in objects in more luxurious materials, such as silver. The characteristic form of this dish with three cabriole legs was inspired by contemporary silver offering trays, such as the lobed tray unearthed at the site of the Daming Palace, Xi’an, now in the National Museum of China, Beijing, accession no. 1101012180003610675715. These offering trays were held by the legs, as illustrated in a wall painting of a lady carrying such a tray, in the tomb of princess Fangling (d. 673) in Zhaoling, now preserved in the Shaanxi History Museum, Xi’an. 

Dishes of similar design include one sold in our New York rooms, 4th December 1985, lot 176; another with a flat rim, sold in these rooms, 2nd March 1971, lot 123, and now in the Tokyo National Museum; and a third dish, with the blue stopping below the well, sold in these rooms, 9th December 1986, lot 56. See also a dish of this design, but on a green ground, in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., accession no. F1949.13; and a dish with a plain white ground, in the Tokyo National Museum, accession no. TG-677.

來源

平野古陶軒

展覽

《平野古陶軒本店新築記念ー中国古陶磁展》，平野古陶軒，大阪，1990年，編號11

《特別展 中国の陶磁》，東京國立博物館，東京，1994年，頁82，編號116

《中国陶磁名品展―イセコレクションの至宝》，石川縣立美術館，石川，2012年，編號22

《Porcelaine. Chefs-d'œuvre de la Collection Ise》，吉美博物館，巴黎，2017年，編號6

《イセコレクション―世界を魅了した中国陶磁》，大阪市立東洋陶瓷美術館，大阪，2017年，編號11

出版

《中国陶磁―イセコレクション》，東京，2012年，頁16至17

Christian Boehm，〈A Tea Master's Vision: Chinese Ceramics from the Ise Collection〉，《亞洲藝術》，2018年7/8月，圖4