A rare Yueyao celadon carved and incised circlar box and cover. 10th century

The domed cover finely carved in low relief with a long-tailed parrot in flight amidst the curving stems of two peonies, with incised details, and encircled by the raised edge of the sides, the box with corresponding upright sides above a tapering lower body raised on a spreading foot ring, covered inside and out with a glaze of soft grey-green color that continues over the foot to cover the convex base, the unglazed rims exposing the fine pale grey ware
4¾ in. (12 cm.) diam.

Provenance : J.J. Lally & Co., New York, December 1986.

Exhibited: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, J.J. Lally & Co., New York, 3 - 17 December 1986, no. 35.

Notes: This rare and beautifully carved Yue ware box is of the fine quality associated with the 10th century, probably the early Northern Song dynasty (AD 960-1127). The box has a well-executed bird and flower design on the top of the cover, in keeping with elite tastes of the time. The bird is a parrot with outstretched wings, shown against a background of blossoming peonies. This was a very popular motif on refined ceramic wares of the late Tang and Northern Song dynasties, and can also be seen on a number of fine silver and gold items, such as the famous Tang dynasty silver and gilt lidded jar with handle excavated in 1970 at Hejiacun, Xi'an, Shaanxi province, which also bears a design of parrots and peonies, illustrated in World of the Heavenly Khan - Treasures of the T'ang Dynasty, National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2002, p. 50.

Fine 10th century Yue ware boxes of similar shape with similar decoration to the current example have also been excavated in China. A slightly smaller Northern Song example, with a design of phoenixes and peonies, excavated in 1972 at Shengxian, Zhejiang province, is illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci quanji - 4-Yueyao, Shanghai, 1981, no. 201. Like the current box it has a fine greyish-green glaze of a type that is often designated mise or 'secret color'. This glaze was first mentioned in connection with Tang dynasty Yue wares, and was lauded by Tang poets such as Xu Yin (active late 9th to early 10th century). The Tang version of the mise Yue glaze was conclusively identified in 1987 when both the inventory noting the inclusion of mise wares, and the wares themselves were excavated from the crypt of the Famen Temple pagoda, Shaanxi province, which was sealed in AD 874. See Report of Archaeological Excavation at Famen Temple, Vol. 1, Beijing, 2007, pls. CXCII-CCI. Significant numbers of mise Yue wares were later sent as tribute to the Northern Song dynasty court in the early years of the dynasty, and it is to these that the current box relates.
The Freer Gallery of Art in Washington has a similar box, although their example is decorated only with three flowers, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo/New York/San Francisco, 1981, no. 9.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 17 September 2008. New York, Rockefeller Plaza. www.christies.com