Lot 51. A rare blue and white pouring bowl, Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368); 16.2cm (6 3/8in) long. Estimate: HK$300,000.00 - HK$500,000.00 (€ 34,000 - 56,000). © Bonhams.

Of shallow rounded sides rising from a slightly concave base, set to one side with a small spout of square section applied underneath with a small scroll loop, painted in underglaze-blue to the interior with flowerheads among foliate scrolls encircled by a double line border and a band of classic scroll at the well, the exterior with lotus petal panels and scrolls to the spout, the rim unglazed, the base with a thin coating of translucent glaze. 

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 4 December 1984, lot 320
Muwen Tang Collection, Hong Kong
Sotheby's London, 12 November 2003, lot 88
Sotheby's Hong Kong, 12 May 2010, lot 1890
A distinguished Asian private collection.

Exhibited, Published and Illustrated: Hong Kong Museum of Art, Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong, 22 July - 11 September 1994, no.205.

Note: Pouring vessels of this type, known as yi (匜), were mentioned in Eastern Zhou period literature such as the Zuo zhuan, or the 'Commentary of Zuo', as important vessels of daily life. During the Yuan dynasty, yi vessels were produced in silver and other metals as well as in Longquan celadon and monochrome white and blue and white porcelain. A wall painting in the tomb of Zhang Andabuhua and his wife, dated 1269, shows the high-ranking couple dressed in Mongolian garb and flanked by tables laid with wine utensils and flower vases, among them a white yuhuchun bottle and a matching pouring vessel yi, see The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 2010, p.83, fig.115.

Compare with a related blue and white spouted bowl, Yuan dynasty, 14th century, of similar shape but painted with lotus scrolls, illustrated by the Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong in Jingdezhen Wares: The Yuan Evolution, Hong Kong, 1984, p.64, no.100. See also a related blue and white spouted bowl, Yuan dynasty, in the Lintao County Museum, which was excavated in Shuangshang She, Siwa Village, Yaxia Township, Lintao County, Gansu Province, illustrated in Splendors in Smalt: Art of Yuan Blue-and-white Porcelain, Shanghai, 2012, pp. 148-149, no.42.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 27 November 2018