Song dynasty ceramics at Christie's, New York, 28 march 2010
Lot 1343. A Longquan celadon pear-shaped vase, yuhuchunping, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, 12th-14th century; 10¾ in. (27.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 50,000 - USD 70,000. Price realised USD 62,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.
The pear-shaped body surmounted by a slender neck rising to a flared mouth, covered overall with an attractive glaze of even sea-green tone, the unglazed foot ring burnt orange in the firing.
Note: Compare the very similar Longquan celadon yuhuchunping dated to the Yuan dynasty excavated in 1983 in Taishun County, Zhejiang province, illustrated in Celadons from Longquan Kilns, Taipei, 1998, p. 187, no. 160. Other similar Longquan celadon vases have been sold in these rooms: one formerly in the J.M. Hu Collection, sold 15 September 2009, lot 342; and another sold 19 March 2008, lot 562. See, also, the Longquan celadon vase of similar proportions, but with tobi-seiji glaze, from the Ataka Collection, now in the Museum of Oriental Ceramics, illustrated in the catalogue, Exhibition of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1982, no. 23.
Lot 1281. A rare Yaozhou celadon carved ewer, Northern Song dynasty, 11th-12th century; 9 1/8 in. (23.2 cm.) high. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 9,000. Price realised USD 52,500 at Christie's New York, 26 March 2010, lot 1281. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010
The ovoid body deftly carved with two leafy flowering peony stems below a band of overlapping petals on the shoulder from which rise the curved spout and the ribbed strap handle, the waisted neck incised with two double-line bands below the everted rim with lipped edge, covered overall with a dark olive-green glaze which also covers the base.
Provenance: Acquired prior to 1985. Property from the Ping Y. Tai Foundation
Note: An excavated ewer very similar to the current vessel in the collection of the Yaozhou-ware Museum was included in the exhibition, The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, p. 56, no. 73. The only significant difference between the two is that the excavated vessel has two sprig-molded vertical elements - one placed on either side of the neck - in a manner reminiscent of the 10th century Yue-ware ewer in the Falk Collection, sold in these rooms, 20 September 2001, lot 34.
The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test number P108u83 is consistent with the dating of this lot.
Lot 1331. A rare Ding-type russet-glazed bowl and cover, Northern Song-Jin dynasty, 12th century ; 4¼ in. (10.8 cm.) high. Estimate USD 40,000 - USD 60,000. Price realised USD 43,750. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.
Of deep U-shape, the exterior covered with a lustrous russet glaze with dark brownish-black tones at the rim, stopping above the knife-cut foot to expose the buff-fired ware, the domed cover with everted rim and small 'twig' handle similarly glazed, the interior of the bowl covered in an even white, crackle-suffused glaze.
Note: The firing of the rich russet glaze on this elegant covered bowl is particularly successful. Russet glazes were utilized at several northern Chinese kilns in the Song and early Jin periods, including the Ding and Yaozhou kilns, and seem to have been especially admired on vases and forms associated with the tea ceremony. The Gegu Yaolun, published in AD 1388, notes that 'purple' (i.e. russet) and black Ding were even more expensive than white Ding wares. See Sir Percival David, Chinese Connoisseruship - The Ko Ku Yao Lun, London, 1971, p. 141.
A very similar russet-glazed porcelain bowl and cover, described as "Ding ware" with "dark reddish purple glaze", in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum - 32 - Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, p. 94, no. 85. The same covered bowl is illustrated again in Ceramics Gallery of the Palace Museum, Part 1, Beijing, 2008, p. 188, no. 125; and by Feng and Li in Gugong bowuyuan cang Zhongguo gudai yaozhi biaoben, vol. II, Hebei juan (Ancient Chinese Kiln Site Samples in the Collection of the Palace Museum, vol. II, Hebei), Beijing 2006, p. 239, no. 1, where a shard of a russet-glazed cover, similar to that of the present lot, is illustrated p. 235, no. 197. Such shards are consistent with those found at the Ding kiln site in Quyang, Hebei province.
A slightly smaller russet-glazed Ding covered bowl in the Capital Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Shoudu bowuguan cang ci xuan (Selected Porcelains from the Capital Museum Collection), Beijing, 1992, second edition, p. 70, no. 24, where it is described as "covered with glossy russet-color glaze on the exterior, with lightly crackled white glaze on the interior". Another Ding russet-glazed covered bowl of smaller size is illustrated in the catalogue of the Nezu Institute of Fine Arts exhibition, White Porcelain of Ding Yao, Tokyo, 1983, p. 82, no. 145, and again in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, col. pl. 83. A further example in the Buffalo Museum of Science, New York, is illustrated by N. Wood, Chinese Glazes: Their Origins, Chemistry and Recreation, London, 1999, p. 157.
Lot 1238. A painted stoneware figure of a seated luohan, Song-Ming dynasty, 12th-16th century; 19 in. (48.3 cm.) high. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 40,000. Price realised USD 47,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.
Shown seated with left hand raised and the end of a handle held in the right hand, wearing layered priest's robes, one end of which is looped through a ring at the left shoulder, and shoes tied with cord, his face finely carved with intense expression detailed in black pigment with eye brows, mustache and long black beard, with traces of red, green and flesh-colored pigments, the top of the bald head painted in black with the number san shi si (34).
Provenance: J.T. Tai Foundation, Sotheby's, New York, 3 June 1985, lot 13.
Note: Two related painted clay figures of luohan dated to the 12th century from the Zijinan Temple, Wu Xian, Jiangsu province, are illustrated by Wan-go Weng and Yang Boda, The Palace Museum: Peking, Treasures of the Forbidden City, New York, 1982, p. 248, nos. 145 and 146. Another related seated figure of a luohan shown supporting himself on an armrest in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco is illustrated by R. d'Argencé (ed.), Chinese, Korean and Japanese Sculpture in the Avery Brundage Collection, Japan, 1974, p. 280, no. 147. See, also, the very similar painted stoneware figure, also from the collection of J.T. Tai, dated to the Song dynasty sold Sotheby's, New York, 3 June 1985, lot 14; and another related, bearded figure from the Sun Tse Temple, Shansi province, sold Sotheby's, New York, 4 December 1984, lot 116.
Lot 1332. A rare Yaozhou celadon carved bowl and cover, Northern Song-Jin dynasty, 11th-12th century. Bowl 4¼ in. (10.9 cm.) diam., cover 4¾ in. (12 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 12,000 - USD 15,000. Price Realised USD 35,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.
The bowl with deep rounded sides rising from the straight foot rim and deftly carved with two leafy peony sprays, covered overall with a transparent glaze of olive-green color, the cover with flat, flaring rim and domed center carved with a further peony stem and surmounted by a flattened, coiled stem finial, covered with a glaze that continues over the rim in places, the underside of the cover left unglazed exposing the fine-grained ware, box.
Provenance: Christie's Swire, Hong Kong, 31 October 1994, lot 533.
Sotheby's, New York, 21-22 September 2005, lot 35.
Note: A very similar Yaozhou celadon bowl and cover is illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3 (II), London, 2006, p. 483, no. 1486. Fragmentary covered bowls of this type have been recovered from the Yaozhou kiln sites at Huangpu near Tongchuan in Shaanxi province. See Songdai Yaozhou yaozhi, Beijing, 1998, col. pl. 2, fig. 2, and pl. 29, fig. 6.
Lot 1338. A rare carved Longquan celadon jar, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 8¼ in. (21 cm.) high. Estimate USD 30,000 - USD 40,000. Price Realised USD 35,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.
The body carved with a wide band of upright petals below a broad neck encircled by the applied body of a four-clawed dragon with ridged backbone, covered overall with a glaze of bluish-green tone except for the lip and foot rim left unglazed to expose the grey-bodied ware burnt orange in the firing; together with a celadon-glazed cover surmounted by an elephant-form finial, Japanese wood box.
Provenance: Masuda Takashi (1848-1938) Collection.
Note: Celadon vessels of this type are discussed by Julian Thompson in the article "Chinese Celadons", Arts of Asia, November - December 1993, pp. 60-72, where this glaze color, referred to as Kinuta by the Japanese, "was rarely obtained". It appears that jars of this type originally appeared in pairs, one applied around its shoulder with the 'green dragon of the East', the other the 'white tiger of the West'. A pair of these jars in the Percival David Foundation is illustrated by M. Medley, Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares, London, 1977, pl. IV, no. 36. Medley suggests they may have been filled with aromatic oils.
A very similar jar and cover from the Avery Brundage collection in the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, is illustrated by M. Tregear, Song Ceramics, New York, 1982, col. pl. 286, and another from the Shanghai Museum is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji; Gongyi meishu bian; Taoci, vol. 2, Shanghai, 1988, no. 204. See, also, the slightly smaller jar with winged dragon and a cover surmounted by a recumbent dog, sold in these rooms, 21 September 2000, lot 282.
Lot 1339. A rare small Longquan celadon trumpet-necked baluster vase, Southern Song-Yuan dynasty, 12th-13th century; 9 15/16 in. (25.2 cm.) high. Estimate USD 15,000 - USD 18,000. Price Realised USD 17,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.
Delicately carved around the upper body with floral scroll above a band of petals rising from the foot and below a series of concentric rings encircling the trumpet-shaped neck, covered overall and on the base with a crackled glaze of blue-green tone, the foot rim left unglazed exposing the buff ware burnt orange in the firing, two Japanese wood boxes.
Provenance: By repute, the collection of Lord Honda of Aki province.
Lot 1334. A Jizhou paper-cut resist-decorated conical bowl, Southern Song dynasty, 12th-13th century; 5 5/8 in. (14.3 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price Realised USD 11,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.
The interior of the shallow flared sides decorated in resist technique with paper-cut decoration of three floral sprays reserved in brown against the finely variegated, milky buff ground, the exterior covered with a glaze of dark brown color mottled in beige falling short of a knife-cut edge above the low, narrow ring foot.
Provenance: Anthony R. Derham Collection.
Exhibited: The Headley-Whitney Museum (Smithsonian Institution Affiliation), Lexington, Kentucky.
Lot 1340. A Longquan celadon 'Twin fish' dish, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 11 in. (28 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price Realised USD 11,250. © Christie's Image Ltd 2010.
The interior relief-decorated in the center with two fish and the exterior carved with a band of petals below the everted rim, covered overall with a glaze of sea-green color thinning on the raised areas, box.
Property From a Private West Coast Collection
Note: A smaller (22.9 cm. diam.) dish of this type, also dated Southern Song dynasty, was sold in these rooms, 17 September 2008, lot 435.