A Chinese marbled-pottery bowl, Tang dynasty, with steep straight sides...

A Chinese marbled-pottery bowl, Tang dynasty, with steep straight sides to flared rim, covered in a translucent amber glaze stopping neatly before the foot, 10cm diameter Provenance: Ben Janssens Oriental Art, London, 2007 Note: Marbling, or jiao tai ('mixed clay'), was a popular decoration technique on ceramics of the Tang dynasty. Although formerly thought to be derived from the tixi multi-colored lacquer tradition, recent scholarship finds the inspiration to have more likely come from marbled glasswares of the ancient Near East. Such pieces have been found in excavations as far as Afghanistan and Korea. Evidentally Tang potters of the early 8th century adapted this technique to pottery, creating the world's earliest form of marbled ceramics. The unusual, elegant design of this bowl is derived from a metal prototype.