Unknown Artist
Ewer with Chicken head and dragon handle
- Other titles:
- Mingqi ewer
- Location
- Lower Asian gallery
- Further information
This elegantly shaped ewer has a long neck and a broad shoulder decorated with a rooster stretching its neck and four looped hoops. Opposite the rooster is a long handle in the shape of a thirsty dragon whose mouth is biting deeply into the rim of the ewer. Here the rooster ('ji' in Chinese) is a pun of the word for luck. It can also represent the phoenix. Together, the dragon and the rooster symbolise male and female -“yin” and “yang” - the two forces on which the cosmos operates.
Asian Art Department, AGNSW, January 2012
- Place of origin
-
China
- Period
- China: Tang dynasty 618–907
- Year
- 0618-0907
- Media
- Ceramic
- Medium
- stoneware with clear glaze
- Dimensions
- 23.2 x 11.8cm; 6.1cm diam. of rim
- Credit
- Gift of Mr Sydney Cooper 1962
- Accession number
- EC62.1962
