A RARE SANCAI-GLAZED 'PHOENIX' EWER TANG DYNASTY

the finely potted body of elegant ovoid form, supported on a splayed foot, the sides moulded in relief with cartouches bordered with flowers, centred with a prancing phoenix to one side and a hunter on horseback to the other, below a long curved handle terminating in the head of a ferocious phoenix, surmounted by a short neck and an oval straight rim, covered with amber, cream, blue and green glazes

This rare ewer is in very good condition with the exception of four very shallow flakes to the bottom edge of the foot (3.5, 3, 1.5 and 1cm., wide, the largest of which is not visible from the side of the foot), a 5mm., wide glaze to the top right side of the beak and possible loss or misfire of glaze around the left eye.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Similar examples to the present, with the imported cobalt-blue pigment combined with amber glazes, include one from the Ernest S. Heller and Stanley Herzman collections, illustrated in Suzanne Valenstein, The Herzman Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Hong Kong, 1992, pl. 6, sold in these rooms, 6th November 1981, lot 161, and now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; another in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, illustrated in He Li, Chinese Ceramics, 1996, pl. 166; and a third ewer, from the Szeyuan Tang collection, sold in these rooms, 21st September 2005, lot 16.

Margaret Medley in ‘Metalwork and Chinese Ceramics’, PDF Monograph Series, no. 2, p. 4, discusses the far-reaching effect on Chinese culture of the opening of diplomatic relations between the Chinese Emperor Yangdi of the Sui Dynasty and the Sassanian Persians in the late 6th century, and the remarkable results on ceramics. She illustrates a phoenix ewer of this pattern, pl. 3b, together with other Chinese pottery bird-headed ewers, pl. 3a, 2a and 1b, and a Sassanian silver ewer, pl. 1a. Ewers of this type appear to have been slung from the hump of laden camels, as seen with the animal excavated from a tomb at Guanlin, illustrated in Luoyang Tang sancai [Tang sancai ware from Luoyang], Beijing, 1980, pl. 80.