A RARE SANCAI-GLAZED TRIPOD DISH, TANG DYNASTY | 唐 三彩寳相花紋三足盤

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Roundels of birds surrounded by floral motifs evoke designs on contemporary embroidered textiles. These textile motifs are often referred to as following the style of Duke Lingyang, a Tang government official who designed patterns for tribute textiles. His patterns are recorded in Zhang Yanyuan’s (c. 815-c. 877) Li dai ming hua ji [Records of famous paintings through the dynasties], which mention designs of confronted birds and soaring phoenix. An example of this style is found on a textile fragment unearthed at Reshui, Dulan, Qinghai, and now in the Qinghai Institute of Archaeology, illustrated in Feng Zhao, Treasures in Silk, Hangzhou, 1999, pl. 04.07.

Dishes of this design include one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, accession no. 14.66; one in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 50.667; and a third in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., accession no. F1954.124. See also the dish excavated at the Gongyi kilns in Gongxian, Henan province and illustrated in Huangye Tang sancai yao/ Three-Colour Glazed Pottery Kilns of the Tang Dynasty at Huangye, Beijing, 2000, col. pl. 14, no. 2.