Lot 3108. A Yue celadon carved and moulded ‘peony’ circular box and cover, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 5 3/4 in. (14.7 cm.) diam. Estimate HKD 500,000 - HKD 800,000 (USD 64,780 - USD 103,648). Price realised HKD 1,062,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2016.

The shallow domed cover is moulded in relief with a scrolling peony spray, the veining of the petals incised. The box is supported on a splayed foot. Both the box and the cover are applied overall with an olive-green glaze, box.

Note: The box may have been used as a cosmetic box. The soft and greyishgreen glaze is comparable to that seen on the finest Yue wares of the 10th century known as mise or ‘secret colour’. Compare to a box with a countersunk base and carved with a very similar decoration, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji: Yueyao, vol. 4, Shanghai, 1981, pl. 183; another with a foot ring and slightly varying decoration illustrated ibid., pl. 200; and a third example also with a foot ring but carved with three peony blossoms in the Freer Gallery of Art, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, vol. 9, Tokyo; New York; San Francisco, 1981, no. 9.

Christie's. Chinese Ceramics From The Yangdetang Collection, 30 November 2016, Hong Kong, HKCEC Grand Hall