Amphora with dragon-shaped handles

China

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 202

This wine container reflects the cosmopolitanism of Chinese art in the seventh and eighth centuries. Its ovoid body and tall neck recall the shape of Greco-Roman amphoras made in the eastern Mediterranean, while its animal-headed handles allude to versions in Persian and Central Asian metalwork. But the fine buff glaze of its stoneware is distinctively local, and the handles’ animal heads have turned into Chinese dragons.

Amphora with dragon-shaped handles, Stoneware with raised decoration and pale buff glaze, China

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Amphora with dragon-shaped handles, Stoneware with raised decoration and pale buff glaze, China
Amphora with dragon-shaped handles, Stoneware with raised decoration and pale buff glaze, China
Amphora with dragon-shaped handles, Stoneware with raised decoration and pale buff glaze, China

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