Lot 143. A 'Longquan' celadon 'lotus' bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279). Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 USD. Photo: Sotheby's

finely potted, the deep rounded sides rising from a slightly tapered foot, the exterior subtly molded with overlapping lotus petals, covered overall save for the foot ring with a sea-green glaze, the foot ring fired to a brownish-orange, two Japanese wood boxes (5). Diameter 5 1/4  in., 13.3 cm 

Notes: Bowls of this form appear to have been particularly popular during the Song and Yuan periods and have been found in major burial sites throughout China. A related bowl, excavated in Shaanxi province, together with a brazier dated to AD 1204, is illustrated in Yutaka Mino and Katherine R. Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds. Traditions of Chinese Celadons, Indiana, 1987, pl. 76a, together with another bowl found at the bottom of a Song dynasty well at Miaojiaoqiao near Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, pl. 76b.

A slightly larger bowl of this type was included in the exhibition Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 61. Larger bowls include one in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 134; one from the Sir Percival David collection and now in the British Museum, London, published in the Illustrated Catalogue of Celadon Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, Section 7, London, 1997, pl. A211; another from the Hans Popper collection, included in the exhibition Song Ceramics from the Hans Popper Collection, Eskenazi, London, 2005, cat. no. 13; and a fourth bowl sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th November 2011, lot 3007.

Several lotus bowls of this type of various sizes are illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, pls 539-544, where the author notes that the finest Longquan wares were produced in the Southern Song period and that while this type of bowl was produced in large quantities during the Song and Yuan dynasties, the earlier bowls are distinguished by their clarity of glaze and finely carved petals (see p. 290).

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 13 sept. 2016, 10:30 AM