Lot 701. A small burnished black pottery jar, Late Shang Dynasty, Anyang Phase, 13th-12th century BC; 5 1/8 in. (13 cm.) high. Estimate USD 1,000 - USD 1,500. Price realised USD 5,000. © Christie’s Image Ltd 2014

The jar is raised on a spreading foot encircled by two bow-string bands, and the deep body is scored with a band of dogtooth pattern applied on two sides with small rectangular, pseudo handles below the edge of the groove-encircled shoulder and the flared mouth. 

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait Collection, New York.
Anna Ilsley Ball Kneeland (1865-1955), New York, acquired 1918-1931, and thence by descent within the family.

Exhibited: On loan: Yale University Art Gallery, 1955 to April 2014.

Note: Anna Ilsley Ball (1869-1955) married Yale Kneeland (1896-1933) in Buffalo, New York shortly after his graduation from Yale University in 1890. Mr. Kneeland had a successful business in the brokerage and distribution of grains. The business expanded greatly during WWI, as he sent tons of cereal grains to the Allied troops. After the war, Mr. Kneeland sold his portion of company, moved to New York, and dedicated his time to his family and developing his collection of rare books and manuscripts, while Mrs. Kneeland focused on collecting Chinese works of art.

Christie’s. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 18 – 19 September 2014, New York, Rockefeller Plaza.