Lot 705. A rare large Cizhou-type brown-painted vase, Northern Song-Jin dynasty, 12th-13th century; 16 3/8 in. (41.5 cm.) high. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 10,000. Price realised USD 23,750. © Christie’s Image Ltd 2014

The high-shouldered, tapering body is painted in brown on a white slip with two stems of flowering peony below two leafy sprays on the tall neck that rises to a foliate rim with five out-turned petals, all under a clear glaze that falls irregularly to the stepped foot with finger-grooved circumference. 

Provenance: Ralph M. Chait, 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: A vase of very similar shape, with similar decoration, in the British Museum, is illustrated by J. Wirgin in Sung Ceramic Design, London, 1979 ed., pl. 54 e, and both vases have the same finger-grooved band encircling the foot.

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