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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2006.170.264
Title
Jar with cobalt-blue splashes
Other Titles
Original Language Title: 唐 三彩藍斑罐
Classification
Vessels
Work Type
vessel
Date
first half 8th century
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China, Henan province
Period
Tang dynasty, 618-907
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/196997

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1600, Early Chinese Art, Arts of Ancient China from the Bronze Age to the Golden Age
View this object's location on our interactive map

Physical Descriptions

Medium
White earthenware with leadfluxed, cobaltsplashed glaze
Technique
Lead glaze
Dimensions
H. 18.1 x Diam. 21 cm (7 1/8 x 8 1/4 in.)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Berwald Oriental Art, London, August 1998] sold; to Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation, Woodside, CA (1998-2006), partial gift; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2006.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial gift of the Walter C. Sedgwick Foundation and partial purchase through the Ernest B. and Helen Pratt Dane Fund for Asian Art
Accession Year
2006
Object Number
2006.170.264
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Description
Ovoid jar with everted rim, short neck, broad shoulders, sides tapering inward toward a flat circular base, and decoration of blue streaks against a white ground; pinkish white earthenware with clear lead-fluxed glaze splashed with cobalt blue glaze on the exterior and the rim; yellowish glaze on the interior; glaze stops short of the foot, base unglazed. Cobalt-splashed sancai ware. From northern China, probably Henan province.

Note:
A sample taken from the base of this vessel was thermoluminescence (TL) tested at Oxford Authentication Ltd. in December 1997 and determined to be consistent with the suggested period of manufacture.
Commentary
Compare to:
1) Covered jar of similar form with cobalt-blue splashes excavated in 1975 from a Tang dynasty site in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province. See Wenwu [Cultural Relics] 9 (1977): 99, pl. 5.2.
(2) Covered jar of similar form with cobalt-blue splashes attributed to the Tang dynasty in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston collection (accession no. 50.1929).
(3) Jar of closely related form with cobalt-blue splashes attributed to the Tang dynasty in the Art Institute of Chicago collection (accession no. 1926.1590).

Publication History

  • Jessica Chloros, "An Investigation of Cobalt Pigment on Islamic Ceramics at the Harvard Art Museums" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2008), Unpublished, pp. 1-41 passim

Exhibition History

  • Re-View: Arts of India & the Islamic Lands, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 04/26/2008 - 06/01/2013
  • 32Q: 1600 Early China II, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights
  • Google Art Project
  • Sedgwick Collection

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Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu