TANG DYNASTY, 9TH-EALRY 10TH CENTURY
Height 8 in
of well potted ovoid form with curved walls rising steeply from a small, solid and circular foot , turning inward at the wide shoulder and then tapering to a waisted neck and rolled lip, two small loop handles on the shoulder, the lightly domed cover with a knob in the form of a lotus bud on the top center, overall covered by a relatively thin, lustrous, transparent white glaze, stopping triangularly above the foot, the flat base of the jar and the interior of the cover left unglazed revealing the dense white buff, on the shoulder
A stoneware jar in this ovoid form is known as wan nian guan, ¡°ten thousand years jar¡± and was produced in several regions of Northern and Central China. As William Watson wrote in his Tang and Liao Ceramics (New York, 1984, p.164), the wan nian guan ¡°is among the finest wheel-thrown work of the potters of Hebei,¡± where is known for its pioneer technique of white glaze in Tang dynasty.
Comparable examples include: 1) in the collection of Idemitsu Bijutsukan, Tokyo illustrated in William Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, New York: Rizzoli, 1984, p.164, no. 152; 2) one excavated at Beiyaowan, Henan province form a Tang dynasty tomb, published in Complete Collection of Ceramics Unearthed in China, Henan, vol. 12, Beijing, 2008, p. 49, no. 49; 3) one of large dimension but glazed in blue see William Watson, Tang and Liao Ceramics, New York: Rizzoli, 1984, p. 110 and 111, no. 81.