White Porcelain Dou
———— A Typical Example of Early White Porcelain
Eastern Han Dynasty
Height: 10.4cm; Diameter at Mouth: 17cm; Diameter at foot: 10.4cm
Unearthed at Simaochong Barracks, Changsha, in 1955
This white porcelain dou has a very fine clay body done with delicate workmanship. The glaze is fairly white, with marks of teardrops in it. According to measurements, the glaze has a content of 1.1~1.2% iron, therefore this is a typical example of early white porcelain. The early version of dou has a stemmed circular foot on top of which is placed the plate itself. The Chinese character dou (豆) is an ideogram created in the shape of this utensil. The upper part of this porcelain dou has transformed from plate into bowl, greatly increasing its capacity.
Dou as a food container appeared as early as in late Neolithic age. Pottery dou has been discovered in Yangshao Culture. In the Shang and the Zhou Dynasties, dou was used to hold meat food. The pottery dou discovered in Shang Tomb 105 at Taixi, Gaocheng in Hebei Province has one chicken bone remaining in it. The pottery dou unearthed from Yin Ruins also have sheep leg bones or other animal limb bones on them. The colored pottery dou unearthed from the Han tombs at Mawangdui held meat, vegetables and pickled vegetables. The Rites of the Zhou considers eating one dou of meat and drinking one dou of wine as the diet of an average family.
Dou can be made from wood, bamboo and clay. As celadon first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty, this porcelain dou is especially precious as a representative of early white porcelain.
Celadon Box with Stamped Design
————A Porcelain Box for Storing Incense from the Sui Dynasty
Sui Dynasty
Height: 5.7cm; Diameter at Mouth: 11cm; Diameter at Base: 9.2cm
Unearthed from Xinsheng Brick Factory, Nanmen, Changsha in 1957
This porcelain box for storing cosmetic powder is a typical example of modeling after gold and silver utensils from the Yuezhou Kiln in the Sui Dynasty. The lid and the body form a snap fastener. On the lid surface are three ridged rings. Between the first and the second rings are stamped designs of semi-circles and between the second and the third rings are designs of medallions and grass leaves. On the edge side of the lid are stamped designs of joint transfigured lotus flower petals. The outer surface of the body is stamped with alternating medallions and grass leaves, but these are larger than those found on the lid. Brown glaze is used and the glazed surface is brightly shining so as to achieve the effect of imitating gold and silver. The color of glaze used here differs greatly from those used on other utensils from the Yuezhou kiln of that time.
Boxes for storing incense appeared very early. One lacquer box containing resin incense was unearthed in Guangzhou from the tomb of the King of Nanyue of the Western Han Dynasty. With the introduction and the subsequent popularity of Buddhism, the use of incense boxes became quite widespread during the Northern Wei Period. The figures for people to offer sacrifices to in stone grottos often held an incense box in one hand and sent incense to the burner with the other hand. The list of burial objects discovered in the underground shrine of Famen Monastery of the Tang Dynasty includes “one incense box with two incense balls”. Incense boxes were often presented to people as congratulatory gifts during the Tang and Song Dynasties. Ouyang Xiu wrote in his Records of Life in the Country, “We offer alms and food to the monks on the day commemorating the Qianyuan Reign each year, and offer incense boxes to celebrate the birthday of the emperor. This is called incense money.” Utensils for burning incense underwent changes over the time, from the mountain-shaped Boshan burner and dou-shaped burner of the Han Dynasty, to the multi-legged (three or five) burner with an underneath ashtray of the Jin Dynasty and the Southern and Northern Dynasties. The immortal drawn on a brick in the burial chamber of a tomb from the Southern Dynasties in Huqiao, Danyang, Jiangsu Province holds a multi-legged incense burner, with light smoke rising slowly from it. Incense burners of the Sui and Tang Dynasties continued this shape, and incense burners and incense boxes often appear simultaneously in tombs. Since one incense burner was unearthed from this tomb, it is quite certain that this box is used for storing incense.
The earliest porcelain box appeared in the Sui Dynasty. In the Song Dynasty, porcelain incense box and cosmetic powder box were quite extensively spread and often had the names of the workshops imprinted on them. This celadon incense box with stamped designs shows exquisite craftsmanship and is extremely hard to come by.
Celadon Female Musician Figurines (5 Pieces)
————A Private Ensemble of the Tang Dynasty
Tang Dynasty
Overall Height: 16.2-18cm; Width at the Shoulder: 5cm
These female figurines playing musical instruments, in a group of five pieces, all have high hair knots and wear long low-cut pleated skirts with tight sleeves. These plump and graceful ladies are holding such musical instruments as clappers, drum, cymbals, konghou (a string instrument like the harp or the lyre) and xiao (vertical flute). Such small-size ensembles have been repeatedly found in the Tang tombs on the Central Plain. The Yuezhou Kiln also produced such figurines. Although figurines of male musicians have also been found, most are figurines of female musicians.
In ancient China, apart from the ensembles of the royal court, the family memorial temples and the monasteries, the practice of government offices and wealthy households keeping dancers and musicians was also quite prevalent. The great Tang poet Bai Juyi, for example, kept in his home such an ensemble of dancers and musicians, which he repeatedly mentioned in his poems. The group of 5 wooden figurines of musicians unearthed from the Han tombs at Mawangdui in Changsha were playing wind and string instruments. The musicians here are mainly playing percussion instruments, with only one string instrument and one wind instrument, therefore, they are playing chamber music. Among the musical instruments are konghou and clappers introduced from the Western Regions.
The konghou used here is an upright version, commonly seen in the Tang Dynasty. The upright konghou again has different sizes. The female figurine is holding a small-size konghou in her left hand and her right hand is playing it. Clappers are mostly made of hardwood, so they are also called “hardwood clappers”. During the reign of Tang Emperor Xuanzong, the imperial musician Huang Fanchuo excelled at playing clappers, so they are also called “Chuo clappers”. It is a metronomical musical instrument. During performance, it plays the function of leading in the ensemble and keeping the beat.
Figurines of dancers and musicians have often been seen in Tang tombs. This shows that the society was very stable and peaceful at that time and music was a widespread love. These figurines vividly reflect real life.
