Rare Xing Ware White Glazed Salt Bottle

Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Xing ware,High-fired stoneware
Hebei Province, China
H: 19.4cm D: 12cm

The white glazed bottle is sturdily potted on a flat unglazed foot, with rounded sides and a broad shoulder rising to a tall neck with an everted rolled rim. The exterior is glazed with a white glaze stopping short unevenly near the bottom exposing the hard clay body.

Xing ware bottles of this form are extremely rare. The simplicity and purity of the white glaze and the practical form reflect the gracefulness of the Tang dynasty. The white glaze was achieved with an iron content in the glaze of below 1%. Mastered in the Sui dynasty, the successful firing of white wares laid the foundation for porcelain in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

• A similar salt bottle of this from is in The National Palace Museum, Beijing, China. Accession number: 00009720

Provenance:
– Private Japanese Collection.
– Uragami Sokyu-do, Tokyo, Japan.