A rare small Jizhou resist-decoated and carved rown-glazed Meiping. Song/Yuan dynasty, 13th/14th century

Resist-decorated on two sides with carved branches bearing prunus blossoms detailed in brown slip, all under a clear glaze and reserved against a dark brown glaze that continues over the lipped mouth rim and falls to the edge of the foot, the interior of the foot covered with an olive-brown glaze - 7¼ in. (18.4 cm.) high, box  - Estimate: $100,000 - $150,000

Provenance : Acquired in Hong Kong in the 1990s.

Notes : The delicate decoration on this meiping was produced by first affixing a stencil to the dried body then immersing it in a dark brown glaze. The stencil was removed when the glaze had stabilized and then the stamens and details were painted with a brush dipped in slip and the branches were incised through the glaze. After further drying the areas of exposed biscuit and the painted details were covered with a clear glaze. Finally the piece was fired.

Similar meiping are in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by S.G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989 (rev. ed.), p. 118, pl. 115; one of a pair (Fig. 1) is illustrated by M. Sullivan, Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades in the Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow, London, 1963, pl. 123b; and one was included in the Min Chiu Society thirty-fifth anniversary exhibition, In Pursuit of Antiquities, 22 December 1995 - 18 February 1996, Hong Kong Museum of Art, no. 116. Another similar meiping (Fig. 2) in the Jiangxi Museum is illustrated in Zhongguo Wenwu Jinghua Daci Dian, Beijing, 2002, p. 295, no. 419.

Similar decoration of blossoming prunus branches can also be seen on a pear-shaped vase of comparable size in the Scheinman Collection illustrated by R. Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown-and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, 1996, pp. 251-2

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