Browse: 10610 objects
Cup in the form of a shell
- loan
-
Details
- Associated place
-
Asia › China › Henan province (Gongxian kiln-sites) (place of creation)
- Date
-
7th - 8th century AD (AD 601 - 800)
Tang Dynasty (AD 618 - 907)
- Material and technique
- earthenware, hand-modelled, covered in white slip and with combed decoration under a sancai glaze; glazed rim
- Dimensions
- 4.8 x 10.6 x 9.2 cm (height x width x depth)
- Material index
- Technique index
- Object type index
-
container › vessel › pot › burial-pot,
- No. of items
- 1
- Credit line
- Lent by the Sir Alan Barlow Collection Trust.
- Accession no.
- LI1301.41
-
Further reading
University of Sussex, and Arts and Humanities Research Council, The Barlow Collection, supervised by Regina Krahl, Maurice Howard, and Aiden Leeves (Sussex: University of Sussex, 2006), no. C6
Glossary (3)
earthenware, glaze, slip
-
earthenware
Ceramic material made of clay which is fired to a temperature of c.1000-1200⁰c. The resulting ceramic is non-vitreous and varies in colour from dark red to yellow.
-
glaze
Vitreous coating applied to the surface of a ceramic to make it impermeable or for decorative effect.
-
slip
A semi-fluid clay applied to a ceramic before glazing either to coat the surface or for decorative effect.
Location
-
- currently in research collection
Objects are sometimes moved to a different location. Our object location data is usually updated on a monthly basis. Contact the Jameel Study Centre if you are planning to visit the museum to see a particular object on display, or would like to arrange an appointment to see an object in our reserve collections.
Publications online
-
The Barlow Collection
The small cup is asymmetrically shaped, like a shell, with deep grooves across the underside, spiralling to a pointed tip, and three openings of different size, the largest with a channelled spout. The light beige-coloured pottery is covered with dotted sancai (‘three colour’) glazes in deep green, amber-yellow and white, through which comb marks are visible, probably from the application of a slip. The piece is fully glazed and the inside shows three spur marks where it was supported in the kiln, to be fired upside down.
© 2013 University of Oxford - Ashmolean Museum