the robustly-potted ovoid body rising from a short spreading foot to a short tapering neck with everted flaring rim, set to one side with a strap handle and to the other with a short conical spout, divided at the shoulder with a pair of small lug handles, covered overall with a lustrous dark chocolate-brown glaze with irregular silvery-blue splashes falling short of the foot to reveal the pinkish-buff body.

Literature: Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, The Museum of Art and Far Eastern Antiquities in Ulricehamn, Ulricehamn, 2002, pl. 217.

Note: The present ewer is a good example of the pleasing rounded profile shapes characteristic of Tang vessels, with well-proportioned spouts, lugs and handles. A closely related example is illustrated in Guwong Bowuyuan cang ci xuanji, Beijing, 1962, pl. 10; one is published in Regina Krahl, Yuegutang: A Collection of Chinese Ceramics in Berlin, Berlin, 2000, cat. no. 99; another was sold at Christie's New York, 29th March 2006, lot 393; and a fourth, slightly smaller example, from the collection of Dr. Ip Yee, was sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 19th November 1984, lot 134.

The splashes, often described as 'phosphatic', were probably created by the application of pure wood ash. Such wares were made in kilns around Baofeng in Henan province, which are considered to be the predecessors of the nearby Ru and Jun kilns of the Song dynasty. Two kilns in particular have so far been identified, the Duandian kilns in Lushan county, south of Baofeng, and the Huangdao kilns in Jia county to its north.

Sotheby's. Masterpieces of Chinese Precious Metalwork, Early Gold and Silver; Early Chinese White, Green and Black Wares, London, 14 May 2008