Phoenix-Headed Ewer (1000s): Art, History and Details

Phoenix-Headed Ewer (1000s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Phoenix-headed ewers of this type have been unearthed at Xicun in Guangdong province. Wares with a thick and coarse body were fired in local Xicun kilns, but those with a thin and refined body—such as this piece—were likely produced at Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province.

Object facts

• Title: Phoenix-Headed Ewer
• Date: 1000s
• Culture: China, possibly Guangdong Province, Xicun, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: porcelain with pale greenish-white glaze
• Dimensions: Overall: 38.7 cm (15 1/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Five Dynasties
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1965.468

A detail from the museum

The phoenix's beak forms a spout for pouring.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Severance A. Millikin

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.

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.