A 'Qingbai' stemcup and stand, Song dynasty. Estimate 2,000 — 3,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's

delicately-potted, the deep cup with six lobed sides rising to a conforming foliate rim, supported on a splayed foot, the stand with a stepped, dished rim, centered by a raised tapering platform with galleried rim, all resting on a spreading pedestal foot, covered overall in a pale blue translucent glaze, Japanese wood box. Height of cup and stand overall 5 1/4  in., 13.33 cm

Notes: The delicate potting and elegantly design of the present cup and stand were originally inspired by silver and gold prototypes. The porcelain versions were often preferred over the metal ones for tea drinking as the ceramic body retained the heat of the beverage and yet could be held without burning the hand. A similar cup (lacking the foliate rim) and stand was excavated in 1965 in Nancheng counted, dated to 1057, and is illustrated in Dated Qingbai Wares of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1998, p. 45, no. 13. Compare also a cup and stand in the Victoria and Albert Museum London illustrated in of a similar stand in silver see Song Yun: Sichuan Yao Cang Wenwu Jicui (The Charm of Song: Cultural Artefacts from Hoards in Sichuan), Beijing, 2006, p. 135. 

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor – Ceramics, New York, 17 mars 2015, 10:00 AM