Figure of a Dancing Male

ca. 1930

Long-necked pouring vessels topped with phoenix heads were first made in the Middle East. The form was introduced to China during the Six Dynasties period (220–589), when deluxe versions in gold and silver were sent from Sasanian Persia (224–651). This ceramic vessel was probably made for export to Southeast Asia; many similar examples have been found in the Philippines and Indonesia. The ewer has unusually fine-grained clay, suggesting that it was manufactured at the imperial kilns of Jingdezhen rather than at southern Chinese kiln sites, where most wares exported to the south were made.