Lot 69. A small and rare 'Yaozhou' jar, Five Dynasties-Northern Song dynasty (907-1279); 13 cm, 5 1/8  in. Estimate 50,000 — 70,000 GBP. Lot sold 187,500 GBP.Courtesy Sotheby's 2018. 

the compressed globular body rising from a short slightly spreading foot to a short flared neck, deeply carved to the exterior with overlapping peony petals, the detailed veining delineated by skilfully incised lines, covered in an olive green glaze, pooling to a darker tone at the recessed areas.

Note: Yaozhou wares of this elegant form and sophisticated design seem to be among the earliest green-glazed wares made at the 'Yaozhou' kiln sites near Huangbaozhen, Tongchuan county, Shaanxi province, where related pieces can be attributed to the Five Dynasties (906-960) or early Northern Song (960-1127) period. The present jar is a particularly well preserved example and is most attractive for its beautiful even glaze and exceptionally bold and large-scale carving with the motif expertly placed to fill out the main design band.

Compare two similar jars, excavated from the Yaozhou kiln sites near Tongchuan city, Shaanxi province, one recovered from Huangbaozhen in 1959 and now in the Shaanxi Institute of Archaeology, Xi’an, included in the exhibition The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, cat. no. 24, and the other jar, unearthed from the No. 4 Middle School area together with fragments of celadon vessels that may have been of similar design, illustrated in Songdai Yaozhou yaozhi/The Yaozhou Kiln Site of the Song Period, Beijing, 1998, pl. 137, fig. 1-3. See also a jar carved with an additional band of petals below its neck, from the Calmann Collection and now in the Musée Guimet, Paris, illustrated in Basil Gray, Sung Porcelain & Stoneware, London, 1984, pl. 27. 

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 16 may 2018, 10:30 AM