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Rhyton-shaped cup, sancai (three-color) ware
Rhyton-shaped cup, sancai (three-color) ware

Rhyton-shaped cup, sancai (three-color) ware

Maker
MediumEarthenware with lead glazes
Dimensions3 1/2 x 5 3/4 inches (8.9 x 14.6 cm)
CultureChina
PeriodTang dynasty (618–906)
ClassificationsCeramics
Credit LineGeorge and Mary Rockwell Collection
Terms
  • Ceramics
  • Earthenware
  • Funerary objects
  • Vessels - Cups
  • Glazes
  • Stoneware
  • yellow and buff glazes
  • Mythological creatures
  • Masks
  • Monsters
  • Chinese
Object number88.002.009
Label CopyThis fascinating cup distantly echoes the rhyton, or drinking horn, that was widely used in Central Asia in ancient times and imported to China during the Tang dynasty. It imitates in ceramic a type of foreign luxury item originally made of silver. Both the rhyton depicted in Su Jiankuan’s painting and this one are in the form of an animal head, where one would hold the vessel to drink from it. Here, the tongue of the fanciful, bulging-eyed creature protrudes outward to form the handle of the vessel. The cup is covered with the amber, yellow, and green glazes typical of Tang dynasty sancai (three-color) ware.
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