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Yue stoneware water pot China, Three Kingdoms period, Length: 6 inches, 15 cm
The humble frog played an important symbolic role in the Kingdom of Yue, being associated with Heaven and – somewhat unsurprisingly - with rain, hence its appearance on the metal rain drums which were popular during this period. Ceramic water pots in the shape of frogs are not uncommon at this time, but no other examples of this magnificent size and with such very fine detail appear to be recorded. Describing a smaller example in the Art Institute of Chicago, Yutaka Mino and Katherine R. Tsiang put forward the theory that these frog shaped vessels “…appear to have served as water droppers for wetting the ink stone or palette on which ink was prepared for writing” (1). Most vessels of this shape appear to date from the second half of the 3rd century AD; the earliest recorded piece is a similar, much smaller frog jar, excavated from a tomb datable to 257 AD in Zhejiang province (2). 1 See: Ice and Green Clouds - Traditions of Chinese Celadon by Yukata MIno and Katherine R. Tsiang (Indianapolis 1987) no. 22, pp. 70-71 |
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