Ewer (800s): Art, History and Details

Ewer (800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Used originally as a tea or wine ewer, this vessel has the strength of a Tang ceramic shape and the typical characteristics of Changsha ware, such as the stout proportions, the short, polygonal spout, and an overall color harmony and bold decoration. Its exterior is decorated with an olive-green glaze with iron-brown spots. The brown and the green glazes run into each other at certain areas during firing, creating a distinctive splashed-color effect. A more laborious treatment of the surface decoration makes this piece a rarity among surviving Changsha specimens. Changsha ware was a line of popular ware widely used and distributed within China. Specimens have been excavated not only in Hunan province, the area of production, but also in Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei, Hubei, Anhui, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Guangxi provinces. As valuable export commodities of Tang dynasty China, Changsha wares have also been found at ancient sites in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Iran, Iraq, Arabic Peninsula, and Egypt.

Object facts

• Title: Ewer
• Date: 800s
• Culture: China, Hunan province, Tang dynasty (618-907)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: stoneware with olive-green glaze and ironbrown splashes, Changsha ware
• Dimensions: Overall: 29.2 x 19.8 cm (11 1/2 x 7 13/16 in.); Diameter of rim: 10.3 cm (4 1/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Tang Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 2005.57

A detail from the museum

This piece reveals the unexplored stylistic relationship between sancai (three-color) polychrome wares from northern kilns and Changsha wares from southern kilns.

Collection credit

Edward L. Whittemore Fund

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.