Lot 3212. A rare 'Xing' 'Lion'-handled ewer, Five Dynasties (907-960), 19.5 cm, 7 5/8  in. Estimate 200,000 — 300,000 HKD. Unsold. Photo: Sotheby's.

well potted with a baluster body rising from a short splayed foot to a broad rounded shoulder, surmounted by a trumpet neck and flared rim, decorated to one side with a short gently tapering spout and to the other with a strap handle modelled in the form of a lion, the beast rendered clambering onto the inner rim and skilfully detailed with a striated mane and tail, covered overall with a translucent creamy-white glaze stopping short of the unglazed foot to reveal the white body

Provenance: Galaxie Company, Hong Kong, 19th January 1989.

Note: CWhite-glazed ewers of this type were made in north China, where the kilns specialised in high-fired white wares. Using kaolin-rich clays the potters were able to produce vessels for the home that blended in harmoniously with more expensive silver objects. A closely related white ware ewer with similar lion handle, formerly in the Eurmorfopoulos Collection, now preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, is illustrated by Stacey Pierson, Chinese Ceramics, London, 2009, pp. 19-18, no. 18.

Sotheby's. Song Ceramics from a Distinguished Private Collector, Hong Kong, 05 Apr 2017