ewer with medallion appliques of foliage and birds
ewer with medallion appliqués of foliage and birds
Nationality
Chinese
Creation date
800s
Materials
stoneware with glaze, Changsha ware
Dimensions
6 1/2 x 5 1/2 (diam.) in.
Credit line
Gift of Keith Uhl Clary and Kwang Fei Young
Accession number
1991.338
Collection
Currently On View In
Arthur R. & Frances D. Baxter Gallery
IMA has one of the largest comprehensive collections of ceramics from the southern city of Changsha, Hunan Province.
Changsha ceramics were shipped over 1,000 years ago to places as distant as Japan, Philippines, and Egypt making them perhaps the earliest trade ceramics.
Changsha ceramics are the earliest underglazed painted ceramics in China's long tradition of glazed pictorial ceramics.
Changsha ware has not been found in Chinese tombs, but it has been found in areas where foreigners lived.
Some elements of decoration, such as arcs, poetic inscriptions and stripes were rare before this time in China and also existed on contemporary Islamic ceramics.
It is not clear which country's art influenced the other's.
