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Double Chicken-Headed Ewer

Asian Art

Especially during the ninth to eleventh centuries, Chinese connoisseurs prized high-fired green-glazed ceramics and compared their exquisite gray-green glazes to precious jade. Green-glazed ware, know generally as Yue ware but often called "celadon" in the West, was manufactured both for daily use and for burial. The Chicken-Headed Ewer was most likely produced as a burial good, and excavations have revealed comparable early examples in tombs from the fourth century to the seventh. The two spouts on the remarkable, tall Chicken-Headed Ewer are not functional, further identifying it as a burial object.

MEDIUM Yue ware, stoneware, glaze
  • Place Made: China
  • DATES 581–618 C.E.
    DYNASTY Sui Dynasty
    PERIOD Southern Dynasties
    DIMENSIONS 14 3/8 x 8 in. (36.5 x 20.3 cm) Diameter of mouth: 4 7/8 in. (12.4 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 1996.26.2
    CREDIT LINE Gift of Dr. and Mrs. George J. Fan
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
    CAPTION Double Chicken-Headed Ewer, 581–618 C.E. Yue ware, stoneware, glaze, 14 3/8 x 8 in. (36.5 x 20.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Dr. and Mrs. George J. Fan, 1996.26.2. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1996.26.2_SL1.jpg)
    IMAGE overall, 1996.26.2_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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