Period:Tang dynasty Production date:7thC-10thC
Materials:jade
Technique:
Dimensions:Height: 6.20 centimetres Length: 17.10 centimetres
Description:
Bowl of translucent white jade with greyish inclusions and a good gloss. The oval-shaped bowl with scalloped rim and lobed sides stands on a straight foot, on the rim of which has been inscribed with a character.
IMG
![图片[1]-bowl BM-2022-3034.225-China Archive](https://chinaarchive.net/Tang dynasty/Jades/535_.jpg)
Comments:This oval, elongated cup is divided into three longitudinal channels with two smaller ones at the sides. This shape is found among Tang period gold and silver bowls, which were made in imitation of bowls from further west, from Central Asia and Iran. The jade bowl is beautifully finished and is particularly pleasing to hold in the hand and presumably to drink from. As with the use of glass in the West, especially in the Roman period, materials other than silver must have seemed attractive to hold and drink from. Although similar jade pieces have not been found in tombs, they have come from hoards. They were probably not buried in tombs because they were highly valuable and conventions of the day seem to have restricted the burial of precious materials. Bowls like this one were,. for example, found in the large hoard of gold, silver and precious materials at Hejiacun in the suburbs of Xi’an. One of the bowls, in jade, is carved with a design closely related to ornament on contemporary gold and silver. The patterns are based upon leaves, derived from acanthus, and half-palmette motifs current in Western Asia. The other bowls is made of crystal and is undecorated. However, the crystal is very translucent, even transparent. The hardstone cups represent the amalgamation of two concepts: precious metal cups based on exotic foreign forms have been rendered in hardstone and have thus acquired as additional associations those embodied by jade- association of immortality; of the Daoist pantheon and of high status. These exceptionally fine and rare cups in jade probably belonged to high-ranking members of the imperial family and to the emperor himself. Jim Lally in a letter on file, says the cup has an engraved character at the edge, probably read as Lü, a family name. The only other recorded example of this form in Tang jade is a small cup with carved foliate scroll on the exterior which was excavated in Xian in 1970 in the Hejiacun tombs. See Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 9, no. 224, description p. 78. See Rawson 1995, p.390, cat.no.29.1. Tang dynasty. Length 171mm.
Materials:jade
Technique:
Dimensions:Height: 6.20 centimetres Length: 17.10 centimetres
Description:
Bowl of translucent white jade with greyish inclusions and a good gloss. The oval-shaped bowl with scalloped rim and lobed sides stands on a straight foot, on the rim of which has been inscribed with a character.
IMG
Comments:This oval, elongated cup is divided into three longitudinal channels with two smaller ones at the sides. This shape is found among Tang period gold and silver bowls, which were made in imitation of bowls from further west, from Central Asia and Iran. The jade bowl is beautifully finished and is particularly pleasing to hold in the hand and presumably to drink from. As with the use of glass in the West, especially in the Roman period, materials other than silver must have seemed attractive to hold and drink from. Although similar jade pieces have not been found in tombs, they have come from hoards. They were probably not buried in tombs because they were highly valuable and conventions of the day seem to have restricted the burial of precious materials. Bowls like this one were,. for example, found in the large hoard of gold, silver and precious materials at Hejiacun in the suburbs of Xi’an. One of the bowls, in jade, is carved with a design closely related to ornament on contemporary gold and silver. The patterns are based upon leaves, derived from acanthus, and half-palmette motifs current in Western Asia. The other bowls is made of crystal and is undecorated. However, the crystal is very translucent, even transparent. The hardstone cups represent the amalgamation of two concepts: precious metal cups based on exotic foreign forms have been rendered in hardstone and have thus acquired as additional associations those embodied by jade- association of immortality; of the Daoist pantheon and of high status. These exceptionally fine and rare cups in jade probably belonged to high-ranking members of the imperial family and to the emperor himself. Jim Lally in a letter on file, says the cup has an engraved character at the edge, probably read as Lü, a family name. The only other recorded example of this form in Tang jade is a small cup with carved foliate scroll on the exterior which was excavated in Xian in 1970 in the Hejiacun tombs. See Zhongguo Meishu Quanji, vol. 9, no. 224, description p. 78. See Rawson 1995, p.390, cat.no.29.1. Tang dynasty. Length 171mm.
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