Celadon Ewer with a Chicken-head Spout

Period: Eastern Jin dynasty (317-420)
Date: undated

Named for the spout’s shape, the chicken-head ewer appeared in the late Wu period of the Three Kingdoms (222-280). The Eastern Jin’s chicken-head spout has the mouth of chicken with a round hole, instead of a pointed beak, and a curved handle instead of a chicken tail. The shape was well-designed being easy to carry and pour. The earliest color glaze in Chinese porcelain, “celadon” is not purely green, but has various tones of yellow, green, and greenish blue.