Lot 3. A 'Qingbai' lobed ewer and cover, Song dynasty (960-1279). Height 9 3/4  in., 24.77 cm. Estimate 30,000 — 40,000 USD. Lot sold 56,250 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

well-potted with an eight-lobed body rising to a tall cylindrical neck flaring at the rim, set on one side with a slender, curving spout opposite a strap handle with a small ring at the top corresponding to a ring on the circular concave fitted cover with a floral bud knop, decorated with a low horizontal ridge at the base of the trumpet neck, an incised band just below the rim, a lightly incised series of lines around the mid-section of the body and a leaf-form freely carved at the base of the spout, covered overall with a transparent pale blue glaze pooling to a darker tone within the recesses, the base and footrim unglazed, Japanese wood box. 

Notes: Inspired by Near and Middle Eastern glass and metal prototypes, this porcelain ewer is a fine example of one of the best and most classic of Qingbai wares. A related ewer was excavated from a Song tomb at Yanshan near Shaowu in Fujian province, and is illustrated in Kaogu, 1981:5, pl. 11, fig. 8. Published examples of this form include one from the Yokogawa collection in Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum, vol. 1, no. 378; another in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl. 417; a third in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1994, pp. 272-3, no. 118; one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London is illustrated by Rose Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, p. 96-97, no. 97; and another in the British Museum, London in Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 2002, pp. 120-121, no. 61. A ewer of similar slender proportions was sold at Bonham's Hong Kong, 9th October 2015, lot 212.

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