A sancai-glazed buff pottery tray and eight cups, Tang dynasty (618-907). © Christie's Image 2003

The tray raised on a shallow foot with flat base, the rim splashed with green, amber and white glazes that fall in streaks down the shallow sides, the small cups similarly glazed on the rim and interior - 10in. (25.2cm.) diam. (9). Lot 224. Estimate $6,000 - $8,000. Price Realized $4,780 

Notes: Patches of pale green-tinted straw glaze around the periphery of the unglazed area of the tray and traces of the same glaze on the bases of the cups indicate that the cups were on the tray during firing, or placed there shortly thereafter.

A similar tray and seven cups in The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco are illustrated by He Li, Chinese Ceramics: A New Comprehensive Survey, New York, 1996, no. 158, and another set in Luoyang Tang sancai (Three-color Glazes of the Tang Dynasty in Luoyang), Beijing, 1980, p. 96. 

CHRISTIE'S. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza