Pair of Leather Bag-Shaped Flasks with Covers
Unknown Artist
916–1125
Medium
earthenware with green glaze
Dimensions
part 1: 24.5 × 16.5 × 16 cm · part 2: 23.5 × 17.5 × 13.8 cm
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Donna and James Reid
Accession Number
2012.448
About this artwork
Flasks like these derive their shapes from leather bags; even the edges are finely rouletted to resemble the seams of sewn leather. These were used by the nomadic Khitan people who established the Liao kingdom in Inner Mongolia, Manchuria, and North China. Such wares represented the Liao adoption of the Tang Chinese ceramic tradition, and yet they expressed ethnic identity and new innovations resulted from the cultural borrowing.