This little Changsha ewer is made of buff color stoneware clay. It was made on the potter's wheel with applied spout and handle. The only decoration are two round splashes of brown glaze that were dropped on the pot and covered with a transparent celadon glaze. It has an endearing quality in the sense that it is an honest representation, that it is not pretending to be anything but what it is - a useful utilitarian ware, a container for oil or sauces.
Please note there is a small section of the rim that is made of restoration material. The glaze is of a different color than the original. All Changsha wares were excavated from the Tongguan kiln sites along the Yangzi River near Changsha in Hunan Province. They were kiln wasters - imperfect pieces that did not meet the quality for export.
As a graduate student at the University of Chicago in the 1980's, I did a research paper on the wares of Changsha, also named Tongguan wares. Among my research, I read an article about a collector in Hong Kong who collected this type of ceramic wares in the 1950's without fully aware what they represented, until excavation reports from archaeological journals such as Kaogu and Wenwu were published on newly discovered kiln sites in Tongguan near Changsha. This horde of new materials were of great interest to ceramicists because they were able to find pieces with late Tang Dynasty dates (CE 618 - 907.) This is of great significance to the study of Chinese ceramics. The potters of Changsha were the first to successfully produced glazes of blue, green and brown under the clear celadon glaze. The underglaze paintings of birds, flowers, animals, calligraphy and other symbols, and decorative appliques were entirely unknown until the excavations. The archaeologists also deduced that the ease of river traffic to the coastal ports allowed maritime trade to Southeast Asia, India, and further afield to Syria and Egypt. Ewers with Islamic script and symbols supported this along with excavations reports of similar wares found in the Maldive Islands in the Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka, and Syria. The objects found in the kiln sites were mostly utilitarian wares such as ewers and bowls, small toys in the form of animals and figurines, bird whistles, and water droppers used by scholars. The largest Changsha pieces were beautifully decorated pillows.
Dating: late Tang Dynasty, 9th century
Dimensions: 3 inches in diameter and 4 inches high