618

907

7.0

10.0

HKU.C.1953.0023

The pot is covered in a colorful glaze with fluid-like patterns. The lead-based glaze is known as 'sancai', meaning 'three colors', even though the number of colors is not necessarily restricted to 3. Various metal oxides are added to the glaze before being applied to a clay vessel, including iron oxide for red and yellow, copper oxide for green, and cobalt oxide for blue. During the firing process, the molten glaze is poured over the vessel, creating the natural flowing patterns.
Sancai is usually used on white ‘kaolin clay’ since the Sui Dynasty (CE 581-618), but it is not the case here. The clay used has a darker color, owing to higher amounts of ferric substances.
Being quite expensive, sancai is usually applied to funerary figures in tombs of aristocrats and officials, and might have been used on luxury items for scholars. It is believed that funerary objects can be used by the dead in the afterlife. During the Tang Dynasty (CE 618-907), the manufacture of funeral objects was scaled up, and a set of clay animals and furniture is often included according to funeral customs.