Pottery marbled dish and stem cup

A pottery dish with matching cup.  The circular dish has a flat base, slightly convex interior and a flared rim.  The cup is supported on a trumpet foot and the sides of the bowl are gently rounded, with a raised band in the middle.  Both dish and cup are made from marbled clay, producing a design of mixed dark and light irregular swirling stripes.  They are covered in a pale yellow glaze that leaves only the base of the dish and the underside of the foot of the cup uncovered.

•   Frequent parallels occur between ceramic and metal forms during the Tang dynasty, which can clearly be seen in this dish and stem cup.  A silver stem cup of closely comparable shape, engraved with a hunting scene is in the Shaanxi History Museum.1 

1. Shen Qinyan (ed.) Gold and Silver, Selected Treasures of Shaanxi History Msueum, Xian 2003, no. 26, p. 45