Lot 22. A rare unglazed quatrefoil footed dish, Tang dynasty (618-907); 25 cm diam. Sold for €7,040. © Bonhams 2001-2024

Formed from four radiating trefoil leaves, each cupped and lobed, resting on four outwardly curved foliate cabriole legs moulded on the exterior with foliate scrollwork.

Provenance: Acquired from Berwald Oriental Art, 2006.
A distinguished German private collection.

Note: The silhouette and form of this particular footed dish were inspired by Near Eastern metalwork. During the Tang dynasty, precious silver and even gold metalware was gifted to the Tang court as tributes from foreign emissaries. This distinctive shape was then copied by craftsmen working in workshops in the Tang capital. Several silver examples survive, see, for instance, ... The popularity of this particular form of footed dish is reflected in the number of glazed and unglazed copies that were made almost exclusively for burial, see a rare blue and amber-glazed quatrefoil footed dish in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago, accession number 1951.304. Compare also a sancai-glazed dish of this shape in the collection of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, Stockholm, formerly in the Hellner Collection, illustrated in The World's Great Collections. Oriental Ceramics, vol.8, Tokyo, 1982, col.pl.20.

Bonhams. CHINESE ART, Paris, 12 June 2024