Tang Dynasty, A.D. 9th Century
the well-potted ovoid jar with steeply rounded broad shoulders surmounted by a short neck with concave sides rising to a wide mouth with projecting rounded lip and standing on a flat rimless base, covered inside and out with a transparent glaze of slightly creamy tone, the base left unglazed showing the hard white porcelain body, the cover of disc shape rising to a simple bud-shaped knot on a concave-sided short stem and with a deep flange on the underside, with a matching transparent glaze, the underside of the cover left unglazed in the center, showing the same fine white porcelain body.
Height 6 3⁄4 inches (17.2 cm)
White pottery and stoneware jars of this classic Tang form are well known, but porcelain examples complete with cover are very rare. Compare the smaller Xingyao jar without the cover, with the character ying incised on the base, illustrated by Gyllensvärd in Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, p. 103, no. 298
唐 白瓷蓋罐 高 17.2 厘米
Tang Dynasty, A.D. 9th Century
Height 6 3⁄4 inches (17.2 cm)