Lot 1984. A rare white-glazed ewer, Song dynasty (960-1279); 7 5/8 in. (19.3 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 200,000-300,000. Price realised HKD 250,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2017

The ewer has a deep, rounded body raised on a flared foot, incised with single lines above and below the sharp edge of the canted shoulder, with a tall, slender curved spout set opposite a looped strap handle attached to the narrow cylindrical neck, covered with a translucent, pale blue tinged glaze pooling to darker tone in the recesses; Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Mayuyama & Co. Ltd., Tokyo
A Japanese private collection, acquired in the 1980s or before.

Exhibited: Kuboso Memorial Museum of Arts, Sosoku Utsuwa [Pouring Vessles], Izumi, 1986, p. 53, cat no. 94 
Fukuyama Castle Museum, 70 Selected Masterpieces of Chinese Porcelain, 21 Oct to 26 Nov 1989, p.27, no. 27

Note: The form of this ewer, with its angular profile, is modelled after metalworks that entered China from Central Asia. Compare to a Ding ewer of very similar shape, but with carved decorations in the Musee Guimet in Paris, dating to late 10th century to early 11th century, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, Song, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pl. 133. Ewers of this form were also fired at the Yaozhou kilns. Refer to a Yaozhou ewer of similar form, dating to early 11th century, formerly in the Charles B. Hoyt Collection, now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, illustrated ibid., pl. 184; and another Yaozhou example in the Yaozhou Museum in Shaanxi, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji: Yaozhouyao, 1985, pl. 17.

Ewer with double spout, Chinese, Five Dynasties period to early Northern Song dynasty, 10th century A.D. Yaozhou ware; stoneware, with green glaze and carved floral design. Overall: 19.7cm (7 3/4in.). Bequest of Charles Bain Hoyt—Charles Bain Hoyt Collection, 50.2009 © 2017 Museum of Fine Arts, Boston