Lot 36. A rare 'Yingqing' Wine warmer and Ewer, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 USD. Lot sold 60,000 USD. © Sotheby's.

delicately potted, the ewer of narrow-waisted double-gourd form with a smaller upper bulb of ovoid form joined to the globular lower bulb by an arched strap handle with a small loop for attaching to the cover, opposite a slender tapered spout rising in a graceful curve from the shoulder of the lower bulb, incised with four chubby large-headed boys playing on a wave ground, the narrow mouth fitted with a small domed cover set with a stem knop; the warmer with thin upright sides ending in seven petal lobes, supported on a tall stemmed foot, each petalled lobe further incised with a boy frolicking on a wave ground, all beneath a pale blue-green glaze. Overall height 10 in., 25.4 cm

Note: This ewer is remarkable for its fine material, elegant modelling and delicately carved design. A related plain double-gourd ewer, lacking its lid, was sold in these rooms, 15th March 1979, lot 481. See also a Song double-gourd ewer of more slender form, in the British Museum collection, illustrated in Stacey Pierson (ed.), Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, London, 2002, pl. 60. See also a ewer of very similar form in J.J. Lally and Co., Chinese Porcelain and Silver in the Song Dynasty, Spring 2002, no. 24.  For an example of a plain lotus-flower-form warmer see one sold in our London rooms, 17th March 1959, lot 30.