6th century BCE
The flat mouth concealed behind the rooster's head is the only indication that this faience object is hollow and could serve as a flask for scented oil. Two wings curve up on either side of the vessel opening, with feathers indicated by incised lines. The rooster's beak and wattle are complete, but its comb is partly broken. The animal sits on a low base. Its wings and tucked-under legs are reminiscent of the hybrid "horse-rooster" (hippalektryon) that also occurs among such faience flasks.
7.5 x 7 cm (2 15/16 x 2 3/4 in.)
[Charles Ede Limited, London (1988)], sold; to Private Collection (1988-2000) sold; [through Charles Ede Limited, London (2000)], to Harvard University Art Museums. Purported formerly in the Gustave Mustaki Collection, Alexandria, Egypt and London.
Export blue-and-white ware, kraak porcelain: porcelain with decoration painted in underglaze cobalt blue
16th-17th centuryChineseEarthenware with green lead glaze
11th-12th centuryChineseGlass
5th-3rd century BCEGreekSilver
18th centuryBritishTerracotta
Buff clay with dark brown painted decoration
3rd-2nd millennium BCEIranianLead-glazed funerary ware: brick-red earthenware with lead-fluxed, emerald-green glaze over molded decoration
2nd-3rd century CEChineseGlass
20th centurySwedishCeramic
19th centuryJapaneseSilver
18th centuryBritishJizhou or Jizhou-type ware: white stoneware with clear glaze, the decoration incised and carved through the glaze before firing. Probably from the Jizhou kilns at Yonghe, Ji'an, Jiangxi province; possibly from the Linchuan kilns at Linchuan, Jiangxi province
13th centuryChineseCeramic
19th centuryRussian