Lot 214. A 'Yaozhou' Celadon Molded 'Fish' Bowl, Jin Dynasty (1115-1234). Diameter 4 3/4 in., 12.1 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Lot sold 11,250 USD. Photo: Sotheby's.

the thinly potted conical sides rising from a short ring foot to a flared rim, molded on the interior in crisp low relief with four fish swimming amid waves encircling another fish in the center, the exterior highly carved with radiating flutes, covered inside and out with a bubble-suffused olive-green glaze, the beveled footrim unglazed. 

Note: A pair of bowls of this pattern in the Percival David Foundation illustrated in Margaret Medley, Catalogue, section 7, no. 20, where it is mentioned that the design is reproduced as a line drawing in the archaeological report on the Yaozhou kilns Shensi Tungquan Yaozhou yao, p. 33, fig. 22, no. 4; also in Jan Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, London, 1979, pl. 8j, where another in the Honolulu Academy of Arts is noted. Another bowl of similar design but with twin fish, is in the Kwan collection and included in the exhibition Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, 22nd July to 11th September 1994, Hong Kong, p. 200, no. 82.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art. New York | 18 Mar 2014, 10:30 AM