Lot 3120. A carved celadon Yaozhou ‘lotus’ ewer, Five dynasties (907-960), 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 400,000 - HKD 600,000 (USD 51,650 - USD 77,475). © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The ewer is carved in relief with a broad band of lotus scroll, beneath the gently sloping shoulder between beaded edges and incised with curvilinear lines, which is applied with a curved spout further marked with cross-hatched design opposite to a strap handle, covered overall with a densely crackled glaze of bluish-celadon tone with the exception of the foot ring revealing the pale grey body.

Exhibited: National Museum of History, The Exhibition of Chinese Ceramics of Eight Dynasties, Taipei, 1987, p. 30

Note: Ewers of the present form with decorations finely carved in high relief are among the earliest celadon wares produced at the Yaozhou kilns in Huangbao county, Tongchuan city, Shaanxi province. Sherds of ewers with similar form and carved decoration had been recovered from the Five Dynasties stratum at the Yaozhou kiln sites, see Wudai Huangbao yaozhi, Beijing, 1997, pp. 64 and 67, colour pl. 5, pl. 29, and pl. 30, figs. 1 and 2, and another example illustrated in Yaozhou Kiln, Shaanxi Province, 1992, 56th page. Compare also to a nearly identical example in the Meiyintang Collection, illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, London, 1994, vol. 3(II), pp. 470-1, no. 1472.

Christie's. The Imperial Sale / Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, 31 May 2017, Convention Hall