Lot 205. A rare large greenish straw-glazed stoneware vase, Sui dynasty (581-618); 20 1/8in. (51.1cm.) high. Estimate $20,000 - $30,000. Price Realized $41,825 © Christie's Image 2003

Heavily potted and of elongated pear shape, the bulb-shaped mouth carved with overlapping petals below a short waisted rim, covered with a crackle-suffused clear glaze of pale green color falling irregularly onto the edge of the spreading solid foot, box  

Notes: No other comparable vase appears to have been published. A similar clear green glaze and a similar solid foot showing greyish-yellow ware can be seen on a pair of tall-necked ewers with elephant-head spouts which are dated Sui based on a similar but slightly smaller example recovered in 1975 from a Sui tomb at Lehua, Xin Jian Xian, Jiangxi province, illustrated in Nan-fang Wenwu, 1994:4, p. 85 and back cover illus. 9.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. Pl03j73 is consistent with the dating of this lot. 

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