Lot 3039. A Sancai Phoenix-Head Ewer, Tang Dynasty, 7th-10th Century. H 32cm. Estimate HKD 1,800,000 - 2,500,000 (USD 229,266 - 318,425). Lot sold HKD 2,124,000 (USD 270,534). © Poly Auction Hong Kong Limited

The pear-shaped body is moulded on one side with an equestrian archer turned backwards on his galloping horse as he takes aim with his bow, and on the reverse with a triumphant phoenix, both surrounded by ornate flowers issuing from the oval surround, the neck surmounted by a phoenix head grasping a pearl in the beak below the oval opening in the top of the head, the C-form handle with foliate terminals, the head glazed in blue and amber, the rest covered witha mix of amber, green and cream glaze.

Provenance: 1. Kochukyo, Tokyo, circa 1930s
2. Hirano Kotoken, Tokyo, circa 1980s
3. A Japanese Private Collection.

Note: Sancai phoenix-head ewers without cobalt blue could be found in Shanghai Museum and The Palace Museum in Beijing, also include one in the British Museum Collection, illustrated by Jessica Rawson, The British Museum Book of Chinese Art, London, 1992, fig. 199; another one, which is similarly decorated on one side with a triumphant phoenix, but on the other side with a foreigner riding over a lion, illustrated in Seikai Toji Zenshu, op. cit., pl. 40-41; and one in the Tokyo National Museum Collection, illustrated by Margaret Medley, T’ang Pottery & Porcelain, London, 1981, pl. 19. 

While a number of similar ewers can be found in important museums and institutions worldwide, extremely few are glazed with cobalt blue like the current example. One such ewer is in the collection of Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo, 1982, col. pl. 35. See one more example from the Baron Fujita Collection, sold in Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2016, lot.3306.

From the Baron Fujita Collection. A rare sancai and blue-glazed phoenix-head ewer, Tang dynasty (618-907); 13 in. (33 cm.) high, sold for 2,460,000 HKD (318,638 USD) at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30 November 2016, lot 3306. © Christie's Images Ltd 2016

Cf. my post: A rare sancai and blue-glazed phoenix-head ewer, Tang dynasty (618-907)

Poly Auction Hong Kong. Imperial Curiosity – Art of Interior Decoration, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, 2 april 2019