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Pottery reliquary jar China, Southern Song to Yuan dynasty, Height: 32 1/4 inches, 82 cm
No other pottery reliquary jar of this type appears to have been published, and it is extremely rare to find tomb pieces in pottery with such obvious Buddhist iconography. Whilst there are parallels with reliquaries in metal and stone, notably from Tang dynasty excavations (1), there do not appear to be many such pieces in later periods, although some Yuan and Ming period glazed architectural elements with Buddhist subject matter are published (2). Stylistically, the figures relate to a group of four Yuan period bricks decorated in relief with dancers and musicians, unearthed in 1973 at Xifengfeng village in Henan province (3). A comparison can also be made with Song and Yuan period glazed ceramics, such as a two-tiered yingqing pagoda base with niches containing figures of Buddha in the Metropolitan Museum (4), and the type of beaded ornament which sometimes forms part of the decoration on yingqing porcelains (5). The mitred headdress can be seen on a late 13th, early 14th century seated Guanyin in marble at the Art Institute of Chicago (6).
1 In particular a stone shrine excavated in 1985 from the Qingshan temple site in Shaanxi province and included in the exhibition Gilded Dragons, Buried Treasures from China’s Golden Ages, catalogue by Carol Michaelson (London 1999) no. 99. There are also stylistic similarities to some of the Tang silver pieces from the well-known Famen temple hoard (1987), cf. a silver brazier included in the exhibition National Treasures, Gems of China’s Cultural Relics (Hong Kong 1997) no. 89 |
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