A celadon glass bottle vaseTang dynasty
7.8cm high注脚Provenance:
Tony Omura, "See an Old Friend", Hong Kong

Probably imported from the Persian Empire in present-day East Mediterranean or Iran, this type of glassware were excavated along the ancient trade routes in Far East. Two similar examples decorated with circular relief patterns can be found in the Miho Museum and the Shaanxi History Museum, dated 4th to 6th century and the Sui dynasty respectively, the Shaanxi piece of a similar shape, too. Both were made with cut-glass technique, where the surrounding glass, after cooling, was cut back to leave the bosses standing in relief. The bosses, as well as the foot, on this bottle however are applied to the body when the glass was still hot, a feature also found on a bottle excavated from the Famen Temple (dated 8th to 9th century). Such technique was mastered by artisans in the Eastern Mediterranean in the Roman Empire, and later spread to the Islamic world, the circular discs being one of the most common decorations of Islamic glassware. The Shaanxi piece was excavated from a Buddhist temple and used for storing Sarira; the current lot may serve the same purpose, too.

唐 青琉璃貼花小瓶（並盒）

傳承：
Tony Omura, 香港緣來畫廊

類似此瓶的琉璃器多產於位于今伊朗至東地中海的波斯帝國，由絲綢之路傳入中原及遠東。美秀美術館及陝西歷史博物館館藏的兩件琉璃器（分別斷代為四至六世紀及隋）與此瓶飾有相似的圓形浮雕，歷史博物館的小瓶與該瓶更是形狀大小皆相若。不同之処，美秀及西安的兩器紋飾都是待琉璃冷卻后切割打磨去紋飾周邊琉璃而成浮雕，此瓶則是熱加工的貼花工藝製成。該工藝另見於法門寺出土的綠琉璃瓶（斷代為七至八世紀），興起於地中海東岸的羅馬帝國，后傳入伊斯蘭世界，而圓形飾乃伊斯蘭琉璃中最常見的貼花。陝西歷史博物館瓶出土于西安清禪寺，用於存放舍利，本拍品或也作相似用途。