The exquisitely potted dish of shallow form with gently ribbed sides rising to a barbed foliate rim, applied with a delicate lavender blue glaze thinning at the extremities.  

Provenance: Collection of Lord Rolf Cunliffe
Collection of Professor and Mrs P.H. Plesch
Sotheby's London, 12 July 2006, lot 39 

Exhibited: The Oriental Ceramic Society, Exhibition of Ju and Kuan Wares, London, 1952, p.11, no.19
The Oriental Ceramic Society, Chun and Brown Glazes, London, 1952, cat. no.78

Note: Lord Rolf Cunliffe (1899-1963) was a prominent mid-twentieth century English collectors of Chinese ceramics and works of art. His purchases were almost all sourced from existing English and European collections. He lived in the heart of London just a few steps from the famous dealers Bluett and Sons and John Sparks. His first purchases were from Bluett and Sons on 30 November 1944, and he proceeded to puchase a total of over four hundred pieces over the next twenty years. After Cunliffe's death, Bluett and Sons prepared a brief valuation of some 600 items, of which some were sold in 1971 and 1973. The remainder of the Cunliffe collection was sold in our London rooms on 11 November 2002. The highlight of the collection was a Chenghua blue and white 'palace' bowl, purchased at the sale by Eskenazi Ltd., and subsequently included in their Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition: Twelve Masterpieces of Chinese Art, or Porcelain, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Stone, from the 10th century BC to the Yongzheng reign, London, November 2010, cat. no. 9; and recently illustrated in the Xiling Collection, June 2011, p. 40, no.16. 

Rolf, Lord Cunliffe (1899 - 1963)

Rolf Cunliffe began collecting Chinese art when he was a Royal Air Force pilot stationed in London towards the end of World War II. Over the next 20 years, he acquired over one thousand Chinese ceramics, jades and bronzes. At his flat near Grosvenor Square, London, he had to build special storage units for his collection in the bathroom. As his son, the 3rd Baron Cunliffe remembers, ‘visiting collectors like the King of Sweden would spend happy hours sitting on the edge of the bath discussing the finer points of a jade rhyton or a Junyao bowl.’

Lord Cunliffe was a prominent member of the Oriental Ceramic Society from 1946, and later took up the post of Honorary Keeper of the Oriental Department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge in 1960. It was his close relationship and generosity to the Oriental Ceramic Society which led to various exhibitions of his collection, notably lending twenty-one pieces to the society's Song exhibition in 1949. During these series of shows, the current lot was featured in two Song exhibitions in 1952. 

Professor Peter Hariolf Plesch (b.1918), friend and doctor of Albert Einstein, left Frankfurt with his father in 1933. Educated at Harrow School and Trinity College, Cambridge University, he was fascinated by Chinese glass and had the billiard room in his house converted into a private museum. Also a collector of Song pieces and a frequent member of the Oriental Ceramic Society, he once lent a ruyao narcissus bowl he purchased from the J.T. Tai collection to the society's Song exhibition. As a collector of Chinese glass, the glass-like quality and its superior thick creamy lavender glaze of the current lot would surely have caught Plesch's gaze when he first acquired it. The superior quality of the glaze is comparable to a similar Junyao dish with foliated sides in the Sir Percival David collection, illustrated in Song Ceramics. Objects of Admiration, London, 2003, pp.46-47, no.13. See also a Guanyao piece of similar shape in the Sir Percival David collection, illustrated ibid, p.122-123, no.48, and another in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong, 1994, p.40-41, no.2. 

Lot 16. A rare pair of small brown-glazed saucer dishes, 11th-12th century; 8.5cm (3 3/8in) diam.  Estimate £ 3,000 - 5,000 (€ 3,400 - 5,700). Sold for £ 3,125 (€ 3,577) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018  

The dishes thinly potted, surrounded by the everted sides divided with twelve raised ridges demarcating the petals, covered overall with an russet-brown, moss green suffused glaze, the recessed base unglazed, fitted box. (2).

Provenance: acquired from R & V Tregaskis, Sydney, on 4 June 2002, no.2029 
The Reid Collection

Lot 17. A small Longquan celadon-glazed jar and cover, guan, 14th century; 7.2cm (2 7/8in) high. Estimate £ 10,000 - 15,000 (€ 11,000 - 17,000). Unsold. © Bonhams 2001-2018  

The compressed globular body raised on a slightly tapering foot rising to a high shoulder and short neck, surmounted by a domed cover, all covered under a sea-green glaze falling slightly short to reveal the orange-buff ware, Japanese wood box. (3).

Provenance: a Japanese private collection, by repute
Acquired from R & V Tregaskis, Sydney, on 18 November 2008
The Reid Collection

Lot 18. A Cizhou-type russet-splashed black-glazed bowl, 12th-13th century; 14cm (5 1/2in) diam. Estimate £ 5,000 - 7,000 (€ 5,700 - 8,000). Sold for £ 10,625 (€ 12,163) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018  

With deep rounded sides rising from a short foot to an indented rim, covered overall with a lustrous black glaze suffused with extensive irregular metallic russet spots, the glaze thinning at the rim and falling short of the foot to reveal the pale gray stoneware body. 

Provenance: acquired from R & V Tregaskis, Sydney, on 30 June 2000, no.1708
The Reid Collection

Lot 19. A pair of Cizhou-type white-rimmed and black glazed dishes, 12th-13th century; 12.5cm (4 7/8in) and 12.6in (4 7/8in) diam. Estimate £ 4,000 - 6,000 (€ 4,600 - 6,900). Sold for £ 17,500 (€ 20,034) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018  

With shallow rounded sides, covered overall except on the flat base with an unctuous dark brown glaze with glossy surface, the rim neatly banded in white slip covered with a clear glaze, fitted boxes. (4).

Provenance: acquired from R & V Tregaskis, Sydney, on 29 July 2005
The Reid Collection

Lot 20. A Jizhou brown-glazed 'leaf' tea bowl, Song Dynasty (960-1279); 14.9cm (5 7/8in) diam. Estimate £ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 2,300 - 3,400). Sold for £ 18,750 (€ 21,465) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018  

The bowl of conical form with thinly potted wide flaring sides, the interior decorated with the imprint of a leaf burnt in reddish-brown and light buff tones, covered overall with a rich dark brown glaze thinning to a lighter tone at the rim, stopping short before the small ring foot, fitted box. (2).

Provenance: acquired from R & V Tregaskis, Sydney, on 10 March 2001, no.1818
The Reid Collection

Lot 21. A russet-splashed black-glazed tea bowl, 12th-13th century; 12cm (4 6/8in) diam. Estimate £ 4,000 - 6,000 (€ 4,600 - 6,900). Sold for £ 4,000 (€ 4,579) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018

The bowl with deep rounded sides rising from a straight foot, the interior covered with a dark brown-black glaze embellished with brushed-on russet splashes running down from the rim, the underside with a plain very dark chocolate-brown glaze, the lower sides and foot unglazed revealing a buff-coloured body, fitted box. (2).

Provenance: the Reid Collection

Lot 22. A black-glazed 'chrysanthemum' jar, Jin-Yuan Dynasty (1115-1368); 13.5cm (5 2/8in) diam. Estimate £ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 2,300 - 3,400). Unsold. © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of compressed globular body rising to a short neck and a slighly everted rim, decorated with five applied chrysanthemum florettes at the shoulder, covered overall with a lustrous black glaze falling short of the foot revealing the buff-colored stoneware body, fitted box. (2).

Provenance: R & V Tregaskis, Sydney 
The Reid Collection

Lot 23. A russet-streaked and brown-glazed 'prunus' bowl, 11th-12th century; 12cm (4 6/8in) diam. Estimate £ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 2,300 - 3,400). Sold for £ 5,000 (€ 5,724) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018

The deep rounded sides rising from the tall narrow foot to an everted rim subtly notched to form six petals, covered inside and out with a dark-brown glaze decorated on the interior with abstract designs depicting a repeating pattern of loosely drawn stripes, fitted box. (2).

Provenance: acquired from R & V Tregaskis, Sydney, on 20 August 2004
The Reid Collection

Note: Compare with a similar bowl with segmented lip and abstract decor, 11th century, illustrated by R.Mowry, Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, Cambridge, MA., p.120, no.21

Lot 24. A Jizhou slip-decorated tea bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 15.1cm (6in) diam. Estimate £ 4,000 - 6,000 (€ 4,600 - 6,900). Sold for £ 8,125 (€ 9,301) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of conical shape with slightly rounded flaring sides decorated inside and out with abstract designs of swirled and splashed caramel-coloured and semi-translucent slip over a dark brown glaze, the recessed base unglazed revealing the pale buff-coloured body, fitted box.  

Provenance: acquired from Delicate House Chinese Curios, Hong Kong, on 9 November 2001
The Reid Collection

Note: A related Jizhou slip-decorated tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty, is included in the collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, acc.no.2013.174.

Lot 25. A Jizhou 'tortoiseshell'-glazed bowl, 12th-13th century; 11.2cm (4 3/8in) diam. Estimate £ 3,000 - 5,000 (€ 3,400 - 5,700). Sold for £ 5,625 (€ 6,439) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018

The bowl with deep rounded sides rising to a slightly everted rim, covered overall with a dark brownish-black glaze and splashed with caramel-beige tones imitating tortoiseshell, the glaze stopping shortly above the short foot to expose the light grey stoneware. 

Provenance: acquired from R & V Tregaskis, Sydney, on 22 January 2006
The Reid Collection

Lot 26. A Jizhou 'tortoiseshell'- glazed bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 10.7cm (4 1/8in) diam. Estimate £ 10,000 - 15,000 (€ 11,000 - 17,000). Sold for £ 13,750 (€ 15,741) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018

The bowl with slighly rounded conical sides rising to a slightly everted rim, covered overall in a dark brownish-black glaze and liberally splashed with caramel-beige tones simulating tortoiseshell, the glaze stopping neatly above the short foot, fitted box. (2).

Provenance: acquired from Priestley & Ferraro Chinese Art, London, on 19 October 2001
The Reid Collection

Note: A similar 'tortoiseshell'-glazed bowl, Southern Song dynasty, was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7 April 2014, lot 3624; another 'tortoiseshell'-glazed bowl, Southern Song dynasty, decorated with caramel-coloured splashes, was sold at Sotheby's New York, 2-3 June 2016, lot 648.

Lot 27. A Henan russet-splashed black-glazed jar, 13th century; 10.3cm (4 2/8in) high. Estimate £ 8,000 - 10,000 (€ 9,100 - 11,000). Sold for £ 10,000 (€ 11,448) inc. premium © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of ovoid form flanked by a pair of strap handles well defined with vertical ribs, the body covered overall in a black lustruous glaze enriched with streaked patches of caramel-brown and falling short of the lower body to reveal a thin transparent glaze extending to the foot, fitted box.(2).

Provenance: acquired from R & V Tregaskis, Sydney, no.2172 
The Reid Collection
Probably on loan to Art Gallery New South Wales, Sydney, circa 2003.

Note: A similar black-glazed and russet-splashed jar, Northern Song or Jin dynasty, with a slightly more globular body flanked by two loop handles, is illustrated by R.Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection Vol.1, London, 2009, pp.254-255, no.463.

Lot 28. A russet-splashed black-glazed bowl, 12th-13th century; 11.5cm (4 1/2in) diam. Estimate £ 4,000 - 6,000 (€ 4,600 - 6,900). Sold for £ 5,250 (€ 6,010) inc. premium © Bonhams 2001-2018

The slightly conical sides rising from a straight foot to a indented and flared rim, applied with an opaque russet-brown glaze in the form of streaks revealing a lustrous black glaze beneath, the glaze stopping short above the foot revealing a buff-coloured body, fitted box. (2).

Provenance: the Reid Collection

Lot 29. A russet-splashed black-glazed tea bowl, 12th-13th century; 11.7cm (4 5/8in) diam. Estimate £ 2,000 - 3,000 (€ 2,300 - 3,400). Sold for £ 3,500 (€ 4,006) inc. premium. © Bonhams 2001-2018

Of conical form with steep straight sides, the interior covered with a lustrous black glaze highlighted with cascading russet splashes, the exterior with a russet glaze falling short of the foot, Japanese wood box. (2).

Provenance: the Reid Collection

Bonhams. FINE CHINESE ART, 17 May 2018, 10:30 BST, LONDON, NEW BOND STREET