Lot 635. A mallow-shaped Guan-type washer, Yuan–Ming dynasty. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 HKD. Lot sold 2,480,000 HKD. Photo: Sotheby's.

finely potted with slightly flaring sides divided into eight bracket foliations, resting on a countersunk base of corresponding form, covered thickly overall with a grey glaze suffused with a matrix of golden and dark grey crackles, the base with five spur marks; 12 cm, 4 3/4  in.

Provenance: Collection of Richard Bennett, Thornby Hall, Northamptonshire.
Sydney L. Moss, London.

Notes: Washers of this elegant mallow shape and covered overall with a thick glaze that features an attractive matrix of crackles continue in the tradition established by the celebrated Guan wares of the Song dynasty. Wares of this type were produced at the official (guan) kilns in the Southern Song capital of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, such as at Laohudong, which yielded the finest wares. See a fragment of an eight-lobed Guan brushwasher, unearthed at Laohudong, illustrated in Du Zhengxian (ed.), Hangzhou Laohudong yaozhi ciqi jingxuan, Beijing, 2002, p. 155.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art, Hong Kong | 02 Jun 2016