Lot 429. A rare Jizhou splashed black-glazed bowl , Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 6 5/16 in. (16 cm.) diam., box. Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000. Price Realized: $30,000. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008

Potted with rounded flaring sides rising from a knife-cut foot ring to a finger-grooved band below the lipped rim, the interior with recessed center boldly decorated with an irregular pattern of swirls of variegated russet and pale milky brown color reserved on the blackish-brown ground, the exterior similarly decorated

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong in 1995.

Note: The dramatic swirling decoration on this bowl was created by applying a slip in sweeping strokes atop the brown glaze on the interior and exterior before firing.
A Jizhou bowl of similar shape with similar swirl decoration is illustrated by M. Sullivan, Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades in the Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow, London, 1963, pl. 123d. See, also, the bowl sold at Sotheby's, New York, 14 November 2001, lot 79. 

Lot 423. A Jianyao 'Hare's Fur' tea bowl, Song dynasty, 12th-13th century; 4 7/8 in. (12.5 cm.) diam. Estimate: $5,000 - $7,000. Price Realized: $27,500. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008

With deep conical sides, the interior and exterior covered in a lustrous black glaze finely streaked with silvery brown 'hare's fur' markings, thinning to dark brown at the rim and pooling in a line above the neatly cut foot to reveal the coarse ware fired to a dark purplish- brown color, with metal-bound rim 

Provenance: Acquired in Berlin in the 1920s from Ernst Fritsche, a prominent German antique dealer.

Note: R. Mowry in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown- and Black-glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, 1995, describes the creation of the 'hare's fur' markings on the surface of the glaze as particles in the iron-rich slip being pulled downward during firing.
This finely potted bowl is similar to one illustrated in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 10, Tokyo, 1955, pl. 61; and another included in the exhibition, Song ceramics from the Hans Popper collection, Eskenazi, London, 3 - 26 November 2005, 37. 

Lot 430. A rare lobed Guanyao vase , Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 6½ in. (16.5 cm.) high. Estimate: $8,000 - $10,000. Price Realized: $11,875 . © Christie's Image Ltd 2008

Of Jiaotanxia type, the body of pear shape molded with eight lobes rising from the spreading foot of conforming outline and rising to a flared mouth rim, covered overall with a pale slightly bluish gray-green glaze suffused with golden crackle, the foot rim left unglazed allowing the grey ware to fire to a reddish brown, box.

Provenance: New York private collection since 1991.

Note: A very similar vase from the Jiaotanxia (Suburban Altar) site at Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and now in the Seattle Art Museum, is illustrated by Trubner et. al., in the catalogue, Asiatic Art in the Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, 1973, p. 167, no. 121. Compare, also, the Jiaotanxia Guanyao vase of this form illustrated by Hasebe in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, p. 225, fig. 79.

 Lot 240. A Dingyao carved petal-lobed dish, Northern Song dynasty, 11th-12th century; 7¾ in. (19.7 cm.) diam. Estimate: $4,000 - $6,000. Price Realized: $10,625. © Christie's Image Ltd 2008

With slightly rounded, widely flared sides applied in slip on the interior with six narrow ribs rising to six corresponding notches in the rim, the center carved with a lotus spray, covered inside and out with a glaze of ivory tone falling in olive-green tears on the exterior and continuing over the foot to cover the base, the rim unglazed

Provenance: Acquired prior to 1985. 

Note: A Ding ware dish of this shape, similarly carved with a lotus sprig in the center and applied with thin ribs of slip, and formerly in the Heeramaneck Collection, is illustrated by J. Wirgin, Sung Ceramic Designs, London, 1979, pl. 58c. This dish, unlike the present example, has a metal-bound rim. 

Lot 423A. A Yaozhou celadon foliate bowl, Northern Song dynasty, 11th century; 4¾ in. (12 cm.) diam. Estimate: $6,000 - $8,000. Price Realized: $6,875 . © Christie's Image Ltd 2008

The deep, flaring sides divided by deep notches and rising towards the everted rim with six out-turned petal lobes, covered overall with a glaze of greyish-olive color.

Note: Compare the very similar Yaozhou celadon bowl of this form in The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, illustrated in Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Osaka, 1997, p. 25, no. 26. 

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 17 September 2008, New York, Rockefeller Plaza