Lot 14. A rare un-glazed marbled cup, Northern Song dynasty; 9cm., 3 1/2 in. Estimate 5,000 — 7,000 GBP. Lot sold 4,800 GBP. Photo: Sotheby's

the deep globular body rising from a short spreading foot to a wide incurving mouth, finely potted from marbled clays of buff and dark brown tone creating an irregular whorl pattern.

Provenance: Christie's New York, 25th March 1998, lot 173.

Note: A closely related cup is published in the Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum. Chinese Ceramics I, Tokyo, 1988, cat.no. 579, together with a cupstand; another, from the collection of Lord Cunliffe and included in the Oriental Ceramic Society exhibition Arts of the Tang Dynasty, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1970, cat.no. 63, was sold at Christie's London, 19th April 1983, lot 36.