A VERY RARE SMALL BLUE AND AMBER-GLAZED 'TORTOISE' WATERPOT TANG DYNASTY | 唐 藍釉加黃彩龜形水注

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The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford authentication Ltd., no. C120e88.

This charming figure of a tortoise was most likely used as a waterpot or a waterdropper, as suggested by the aperture on its back and the small hole in its mouth. The tortoise was a popular subject for writing utensils as it was symbolic of longevity, strength and wisdom, qualities also associated with scholars. Writing accessories in the form of tortoises were made in ceramic form at least since the Han dynasty (206 BC- AD 220), although those specifically intended as waterpots are rare.

A similar blue-and-amber glazed figure of a tortoise is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, accession no. EA1956.1057; another from the Charles B. Hoyt collection, is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession no. 50.890; and a third in the Meiyintang collection, is published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3 (I), London, 2006, no. 1181.

A fragment of a blue-glazed tortoise, was discovered together with a green-glazed example at the Gongyi kilns in Gongxian, Henan province, suggesting a possible place of manufacture for this piece (Huangye Tang sancai yao/ Three-Colour Glazed Pottery Kilns of the Tang Dynasty at Huangye, Beijing, 2000, col. pl. 44, nos 1 and 2).