Accession Number
2005/2.81

Title
Chamber Pot

Artist(s)
Chinese

Artist Nationality
Chinese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
317-439

Medium & Support
glaze on stoneware

Dimensions
6 7/16 in x 6 5/16 in x 6 5/16 in (16.35 cm x 16.03 cm x 16.03 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Ping and Zenobia Lee

Subject matter
A chamber pot or huzi (虎子)  of the Eastern Jin dynasty (317-439.) 

Chamber pots were often made in the form of a tiger because huzi (虎子) also means "tiger cub" and can be used to describe a "brave young man."  The stoneware huzi of the Eastern Jin would have been more expensive, durable, and waterproof than the less-expensive earthenware ones.  Often glazed in celadon, as typical of the hongzhou kiln in Zhejiang province, these would have been made for daily use as well as for inclusion in tombs to provide for the afterlife. 

Physical Description
A globular pot with a flat bottom, a neck and mouth angled to one side, and a coil handle curving up from neck to top of pot.  There is bow-string decoration around pot and neck, and it is covered in a gray-green glaze. 

Primary Object Classification
Ceramic

Primary Object Type
vessel

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
celadon (glaze)
ceramic (material)
grave goods
stoneware (pottery)
urinals (containers)