A large 'Yue' celadon-glazed funerary jar, Western Jin dynasty (265-420). Estimate 80,000 — 100,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

the ovoid body with symmetrically applied baskets of fruit, lions and attendants, all below an elaborate six-tiered pagoda-like structure, the first, second and third storeys have a single gateway supported by crouching lion-forms, and surrounded by a row of standing figures of musicians and dancers, below four large jars with impressed decoration and pagoda-roof covers, surmounted by three further tiled-roof tiers with upswept ends all inhabited by a lively flock of fluttering birds, Japanese wood box. Height 20 in., 50.8 cm

Provenance: Christie's New York, 2nd June 1994, lot 237.

Notes: Although these jars are shaped like vessels with covers, they are in fact made in one piece and were not intended to contain anything tangible. Their purpose appears to be as a symbolic resting place for the spirit. Many related jars have been excavated form tombs of the Wu and Western Jin periods, several with dated inscriptions on applied stelae. For further discussion and related examples see Yutaka Mino and Katherine R. Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds, Traditions of Chinese Celadon, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1987, pp. 74-77; fig. 24d from tomb no. 2 at the Shizishan site is very closely related to the present example and references another jar of this same type found at Aojiang, Pingyanxian, in Zhejiang province dated 291. 

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