Enquiry about object: 4692
Rare Thai Terracotta Dish decorated with Black Crow Pattern
Kalong, Northern Thailand 14th-15th century
diameter: 19.7cm, height: 3.8cm
Provenance
private collection, UK
Northern Thai bowls kilned at Kalong from the 14th-15th century with the ‘black crow’ pattern are relatively rare and yet the pattern is quite iconic. The crows are abstract and might also be bats, but generally, the motif is known as the ‘black crow’ motif.
Decorated in underglaze iron with three ‘crow’ motifs around a central similar motif, the bowl itself has high sides and sits on a low rim foot. The exterior sides are decorated with swirling motifs.
The bowl is light and finely potted, in keeping with most terracotta from Kalong, and has a darkened, finely crazed glaze. It is also slightly warped as is the case with other examples of this genre (see for example an example in the Asian Arts Museum in San Francisco – Guy, 1993, p. 166).
Similar examples are illustrated in Menzies (2000, p. 94), Rooney (2013, p. 320, 322), Miksic (2009, p. 62), Guy (1993, p. 166), and Brown (1988, plate XXXIX).
The bowl is in excellent condition and is without cracks, chips or repairs.
References
Brown, R., The Ceramics of South-East Asia: Their Dating and Identification, second edition, Art Media Resources 1988.
Guy, J., Thai Ceramics: The James and Elaine Connell Collection, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco/Oxford University Press, 1993.
Menzies, J., Asian Collection Handbook, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 2000.
Miksic,. J., (ed.), Southeast Asian Ceramics: New Light on Old Pottery, Southeast Asian Ceramics Society/NUS Museum, 2009.
Rooney, D., Ceramics of Seduction: Glazed Wares from Southeast Asia, River Books, 2013.
