A painted grey figure of a mythical beast, Han-Jin dynasty, 3rd century. © Christie's Image 2003

The stocky beast shown in mid-stride, its bovine head lowered, modeled with three flame-like spikes issuing from the neck and flattened bosses along the spine, with muscular haunches supported on knife-cut legs, its long, tapered tail curved upward, extensive traces of white slip and red pigment, earth encrustation - 10½in. (26.7cm.) long - Lot 198. Estimate $1,500 - $1,800. Price Realized $1,434 

Provenance: The Hardy Collection of Early Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art from the Sze Yuan Tang, Christie's, New York, 21 September 1995, lot 24. 

Notes: Similar examples are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, illustrated by Suzanne Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, rev. ed. p. 57, no. 50; in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 13, Tokyo, 1962, no. 123; and in Kandai no bijutsu, 'The Art of the Han', Osaka Municipal Museum of Fine Art, 1976, no. 1-118.

Comparable figures have been sold in these rooms, June 3, 1988, lot 127; and another from the Scheinman Collection, March 23, 1995, lot 23.

CHRISTIE'S. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 September 2003, New York, Rockefeller Plaza