Lot 520. A Henan russet-splashed black-glazed deep jar and cover, Song Dynasty (960-1279); 5 5/8 in. (14.3 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 20,000 - USD 30,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2018

The jar has deep rounded sides covered on the exterior with a lustrous black glaze accented with splashes of russet brown. The interior is covered with a black glaze except for a circular section revealing the biscuit body. The domed cover has a small finial and is similarly covered with a russet-splashed black glaze on the exterior, the interior is unglazed, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Kochukyo, Tokyo.

Literature: Christie's, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, p. 89, no. 29.

Exhibited: Christie's, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 22 to 27 November 2012; New York, 15 to 20 March 2013; London, 10 to 14 May 2013.

Note: The glaze on this vessel is a very successful example of the Song dynasty dark brown iron-rich glaze with russet splashes containing an even higher percentage of iron. A russet-splashed black-glazed bowl and cover of similar form from the Falk Collection and later sold at Christie’s New York, 20 September 2001, lot 83, is illustrated by R. D. Mowry, Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown-and Black Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1996, pp. 144-45, no. 39. A similar russet-splashed black-glazed bowl and cover in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, is illustrated in Oriental Ceramics, The World's Great Collections, vol. 10, Tokyo, 1980, no. 161. Two related vessels in the Meiyintang Collection are illustrated by R. Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. I, London, 1994, pp. 254-55, no. 462. The present covered bowl is distinguished from the above cited examples for having both the lower body and base fully covered with glaze.

Christie's. The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics - The Linyushanren Collection, Part III, 22 March 2018, New York