Lot 3116. A Yaozhou carved ‘Peony’ ewer, Five Dynasties-Northern Song Dynasty (907-1127); 8 1/2 in. (21.5 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 1,200,000 - HKD 1,800,000 (USD 155,463 - USD 233,194). Price realised HKD 1,500,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

The ewer is carved in relief with a broad peony band, applied to the shoulder with a lion-form spout and strap handle, covered overall with a densely crackled glaze of pale celadon tone with the exception of the foot ring revealing the pale grey body, box.

Literature: Tan Dan-jiong, History of Chinese Ceramics, vol. 2, Taipei, 1985, p. 503

Exhibited: Chugoku meito ten: Chugoku toji 2000-nen no seika (Exhibition of Chinese Pottery: Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics), Tokyo, 1992, no. 19

Note: Ewers of the present form with decorations finely carved in high relief are among the earliest celadon wares produced in the Yaozhou kilns at Huangbao county, Tongchuan city, Shaanxi province. Sherds of ewers with similar glaze and form were found in the Five Dynasties-Early Northern Song Strata at the Yaozhou kiln sites including a restored ewer of very similar form and decoration, illustrated in Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (eds), The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Tokyo, 1997, p. 106, no. 143. A very well-known Yaozhou ‘inverted’ ewer is in the Shaanxi History Museum, illustrated in ibid., pp. 26-27, no. 28, which is very similar in form and decoration to the present ewer, but is designed to be filled from the base, showing the technical achievement of early Yaozhou wares.

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