Lot 10. A very rare marbled bowl, Early Northern Song dynasty; 16.5cm., 6 1/2 in. Estimate 12,000 — 15,000 GBP. Lot sold 12,000 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's

the body of deep U-shape with gently curved sides rising from a flat base to an indented rim, finely potted with cream and dark brown coloured clays creating irregular flower-like whorls, covered inside and out with a transparent ivory coloured glaze.

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 4th December 1984, lot 297

Note: A marbled bowl of similar shape, from the Eumorfopoulos Collection, is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, inventory no. C.602-1918; and another slightly smaller bowl of related form with irregular marbling is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 7, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 198, from the collection of the Henan Provincial Museum and attributed to the Dangyangyu manufactories. Another smaller bowl of this marbled body is published in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. Three (two), London, 2006, pl. 1528.

Bowl, stoneware of marbled clay, Cizhou ware, China, Northern Song dynasty, 960-1000. Given by Mr Aubrey Le Blond, C.602-1918 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2017.