Lot 267. An extremely rare 'Ding' bottle vase, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234), 29.7cm., 11 3/4 in. Estimate 6,000 — 8,000 GBP. Lot sold 72,500 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's.

the finely potted and elegant pear-shaped body rising from a short straight neatly-cut foot to a tall slender cylindrical neck with slightly flaring rim, incised just below the rim with two lines and covered overall with a clear ivory glaze, the unglazed footring revealing the fine white body.

Provenance: Yamanaka & Co.Ltd., London (paper label to the base).

Literature: Bo Gyllensvärd, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, pl. 359.

Thomas Dexel,  Fruhe Keramik in China, Braunschweig, 1973, pl. 70b.

Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 562.

Note: Vases of this type are extremely rare and epitomise the level of skilful porcelain production attained during the Song period by non-official kilns. The elegant bottle form, with pear-shaped body and expertly formed tall slender neck, was popular with several northern kilns at this period and is known from the 'Ding', 'Jun' and 'Yaozhou' manufactories.

A similar white-glazed bottle with two pairs of horizontal incised lines on the neck was offered in these rooms, 17th November 1999, lot 727. A 'Ding' bottle with slightly everted rim in the Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo, and published in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, col. pl. 84, was sold in these rooms, 6th July 1971, lot 64, and again at Christie's Tokyo, 17th February 1980, lot 741.

Compare also a pear-shaped bottle with flared rim included in the exhibition Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 35, which appears to be of similar type and is attributed to the Jiexiu kilns of Shanxi province. 

Sotheby's. London, Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork: Early Chinese Gold and Silver, 14 May 2008