Lot 33. A Qingbai cosmetic box and cover, Northern Song dynasty; 14.3cm., 5 5/8 in. Estimate 1,500 — 2,000 GBP (2,035 -2,713 EUR). Lot sold 2,750 GBP. Photo courtesy Sotheby's

of circular form, the gently domed cover carved with a leafy spray of peony, the interior opened to two flowerheads borne on curved leafy stems interspersed with three miniature cups and saucers, covered overall in a transparent greyish-bluish glaze, Japanese wood box. Quantité: 3.

Provenance: Mayuyama & Co. Ltd, Tokyo.

Exhibition: Tō Sō meitō ten [Exhibition of Tang-Song Ceramics], Japan Ceramic Society, Tokyo, 1964, cat. no. 149.

Bibliography: Ryūsen Shūhō. Sōgyō shichijū shūnen kinen/Mayuyama: Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 1, pl. 448.

Note: A qingbai box of this form and similarly applied on the interior with three cups and leafy stems, excavated from the tomb of the Liu Family in De’anxian county, Jiangxi province and dated 1038, is illustrated in Peng Shifan, Dated Qingbai Wares of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1998, pl. 7; another from the collection of Captain and Mrs V. Bulkeley-Johnson, was included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition The Arts of the Sung Dynasty, London, 1960, cat. no. 217; and a third, was sold at Christie’s New York, 25th March 1998, lot 161.

Sotheby's. The Soul of Japanese Aesthetics – The Tsuneichi Inoue Collection, Londres, 13 mai 2015, 10:00 AM