Art Institute of Chicago

Pilgrim Flask

China

Date

Tang dynasty (618–907), first half of 8th century

Medium

Earthenware with three-color (sancai) lead glazes

Culture

China

Department

Arts of Asia

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

Trans-Asiatic trade expanded the Chinese repertoire of simple, wheel-thrown clay shapes to include composite forms pressed in molds. This pilgrim flask—a vessel shape that may imitate forms originally made in glass, leather, or metalwork —depicts a young boy adorned with a billowing scarf, who dances with a lion. Although similar images can be traced back to Hellenistic Greece (c. 300-200 B.C.), the extent of such Classical influence on the much later art of Tang dynasty China has yet to be determined. This vessel displays a fluid “three-color” ( sancai ) glaze, named after the archetypical combination of bright green, amber, and white (transparent) lead-rich glazes that have been colored with carefully measured recipes of metallic oxides. The green derives from copper and the amber from iron.

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