Bird-Headed Ewer (600s–700s): Art, History and Details

Bird-Headed Ewer (600s–700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

With a lobed body, a bird-shaped head, and a birdfeather loop handle, this ewer is derived from West and Central Asian metalwork: Tang potters adopted foreign shapes (bird-headed ewer and amphora) and foreign motifs (floral medallions, vines, palmette, and roundel designs) with great freedom. The artistic expressions bespoke the confidence and spirit of the period. This work is a representation of northern celadon, although it is commonly believed that the northern kilns specialized in white wares and the southern kilns in green wares (notably, Yue celadon). It continues the tradition of celadon production in the north during the late Northern Dynasties period in the 500s.

Object facts

• Title: Bird-Headed Ewer
• Date: 600s–700s
• Culture: China, probably Henan province, Tang dynasty (618-907)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: green-glazed stoneware with modeled, molded, and applied decoration
• Dimensions: Overall: 42.1 cm (16 9/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Tang Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1989.2

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Wilson, J. Keith. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (June 1991): 63–147.
• Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 81, no. 8 (October 1994): 270–347.
• Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.