A Rare Liao Dynasty Amber Glazed Pomegranate Shaped Pottery Ewer

A Rare Liao Dynasty Amber Glazed Pomegranate Shaped Pottery Ewer, Liaoning province or Inner Mongolia, 10th or 11th Century. This rare lead glazed Liao ewer is very similar to an example illustrated in Volume Three of Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection (an excellent series of books by Regina Krahl, see References). The bulbous body has been made from two moulded sections luted together. The moulded register, above the splayed solid flat foot, is decorated with six twigs, each with five leaves growing from the ground. The cylindrical spout is small, a typical feature of Liao pottery ewers. The calyx shaped top was made of a single piece of press-moulded clay, it is green glazed to the veined interior. You can see where the circular end of a potter’s tool has been pressed in to secure the calyx shaped top. A calyx is a leafy structure that encompasses the developing bud of a flower, it sometimes remains at the base of a flower to add support or become part of the fruit. The Latin calyx is derived from Greek kalyx ‘bud, calyx, husk, wrapping’ sepals are collectively called the calyx, the outermost part of a flower. Solomon is said to have designed his coronet based on the pomegranate’s “crown” (calyx). The handle is of strap form with moulded decoration down the middle. As with many Liao pottery objects, the glazes have been directly applied to the biscuit body, without applying a slip. A slip, simply liquified fine white clay is often applied to ceramics rather like a painter adding white to the canvas before starting the painting. The white slip dries and fills in tiny pits and hides small lumps on the surface, it also reflects light through translucent glazes. The amber glaze on this ewer doesn’t hide imperfections, Liao pottery has a rough earthy quality to it, this ewer doesn’t hide its construction with slip left around the handle, tool and finger marks still showing.

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