Lot 209. A rare olive-glazed stoneware ovoid bottle, Sui-Early Tang dynasty, 6th-7th century; 10 1/8in. (25.7cm.) high. Estimate $8,000 - $10,000. Price Realized $8,365 . © Christie's Image 2003

Based on metal prototypes, the ovoid body surmounted by a slender waisted neck rising to a sharply cut everted mouth, covered with a thin olive glaze falling in irregular streaks and ending in a clean line above the knife-cut foot with slightly concave base to expose the pale grey ware 

Property from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. James E. Breece III

Notes: Three Tang dynasty bottles of this form, one a sancai-glazed example, one a bronze example and one in clear-glazed stoneware illustrated in Royal Ontario Museum: The T.T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art, 1996, pl. 67, illustrate the inter-relationship between the metal and ceramic versions of this shape. The authors note that the shape is based on the Buddhist holy water flask, amrta kalasha, which is an attribute of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara.

The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. P102f44 is consistent with the dating of this lot. 

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