Lot 106. A qingbai-glazed lobed ewer, Song Dynasty (960-1279); 22.5cm (8 7/8in) high. Estimate £ 10,000 - 15,000 (€ 11,000 - 17,000). Unsold. © Bonhams.

Elegantly potted with an eight-lobed body rising to a tall cylindrical neck flaring at the rim, set on one side with a slender, curving spout opposite a strap handle with a small ring at the top, decorated with an incised band just below the rim, a lightly incised series of lines around the mid-section of the body, covered overall with a transparent pale-blue glaze pooling to a darker tone within the recesses, the base and footrim unglazed.

Note: Inspired by Middle Eastern glass and metal prototypes, this ewer is a fine example of Qingbai wares. A related ewer was excavated from a Song dynasty tomb at Yanshan near Shaowu in Fujian Province, and is illustrated in Kaogu, 1981:5, pl.11, fig.8. Published examples of this form include one from the Yokogawa collection in Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum, vol.1, no.378; another in Chinese Ceramics in the Idemitsu Collection, Tokyo, 1987, pl.417; a third in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, 1994, pp.272-273, no.118; one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London is illustrated by R.Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, pp.96-97, no.97; and another in the British Museum, in Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, 2002, pp.120-121, no.61. See also several more similar qingbai ewers, Song dynasty, illustrated in Mayuyama: 70 Years, vol.1., Tokyo, 1976, p.145, pls.422-425. 

Qingbai ewer, China, Jingdezhen, Northern Song dynasty, 1000–1100, H.B. Harris Bequest, C.112-1929. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Porcelain ewer decorated with 'qingbai' glaze, Song dynasty, 12th-13th century, 16.5 cm, Brenda Zara Seligman Bequest, 1973,0726.342. © The Trustees of the British Museum

Compare with a similar qingbai 'lobed' ewer and cover, Northern Song dynasty, formerly in the collection of Sakamoto Goro, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 17 March 2015, lot 3.

Formerly in the collection of Sakamoto Goro. A 'Qingbai' lobed ewer and cover, Song dynasty (960-1279). Height 9 3/4  in., 24.77 cm. Sold for 56,250 USD at Sotheby's New York, 17 March 2015, lot 3. Photo Sotheby's.