Lot 784. A rare Yueyao carved dish, 10th century; 7¾ in. (19.7 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 5,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

The shallow dish is carved on the interior with a large flower head with overlapping petals, and is covered allover with a glaze of olive color that continues over the wedge-shaped foot to cover the base.

Provenance: The Collection of the late Mrs. A. Kok-Viersen, sold by order of J.A.Witte, Esq., 28 May 1974, lot 49
Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Literature: Dr. Peter M. Greiner, A Walk into China's Past, Michigan, 1980, pl. 10, no. 41.

Exhibited: Battle Creek, Michigan, A Walk into China's Past, 1980-1981, no. 41. 

Note: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) was a lifelong collector and student of Chinese art. His passion for collecting was sparked by his father, William Greiner, who worked for the French government in Asia in the first half of the 20th century, where Peter was born and spent his early childhood. His family moved to the United States, where Dr. Greiner attended medical school and became a successful surgeon, while continuing to pursue his passion for fine Chinese works of art over nearly fifty years, meticulously amassing a broad collection of Chinese works of art. Dr. Greiner further pursued his studies of Chinese art at the University of Michigan and the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned his master's degree. He taught Chinese art history as a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University and was a guest curator for numerous museum exhibitions, where he displayed some select pieces from his personal collection. Dr. Greiner was honored to present several times at the International Symposium on Ancient Ceramics in Shanghai, organized by the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics. Over the decades, as Dr. Greiner thoughtfully compiled his collection, he continued to greatly cherish those pieces passed down to him by his father. It gave him great pleasure to watch his collection gradually expand from its beginnings in Asia. The collection reflects his life-long love of art, and the individual works offered in this sale represent a small but significant portion of Dr. Peter Greiner's collection.

 Lot 785. A Yaozhou celadon conical bowl, Northern Song dynasty, 11th-12th century; 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 4,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

The bowl has widely flared sides and is covered inside and out with a glaze of somewhat olive, sea-green color that thins on the six lines of slip that radiate from the circular center of the interior to the rim.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 8 October 1974, lot 56.
Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Note: A very similar bowl, also dated Northern Song dynasty, 11th-12th century, is illustrated in the O.C.S. exhibition catalogue, The World in Monochromes, London, 15 April - 20 June 2009, p. 22, no. 32.

Lot 786. A Yaozhou celadon molded conical bowl, Jin dynasty, 12th century; 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 6,000 - USD 8,000. Price realised USD 10,625. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

The interior is molded with two large lotus blossoms borne on leafy stems, and the bowl is covered inside and out with a glaze of olive-green color.

Provenance: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Note: The type of large, multi-petaled peonies molded on this bowl are described as of beehive shape. A similar Yaozhou celadon bowl of larger size (21.3 cm.) with the same decoration, dated Jin dynasty, 12th century, in the Art Institute of Chicago, is illustrated by Yutaka Mino and Katherine R. Tsiang in Ice and Green Clouds: Traditions of Chinese Celadon, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1987, p. 159, no. 61, where a fragment of a Yaozhou bowl with a similar flower on a curved stem unearthed at the Huangbaozhen kiln site is illustrated, p. 158, fig. 61a.

Lot 787. A Cizhou-type 'oil-spot' bowl, Jin dynasty, 12th century; 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 5,000 - USD 7,000. Price realised USD 16,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.

The bowl has deep, rounded sides rising to an indented rim, and is covered with a lustrous, blackish-brown glaze densely patterned on the interior with silvery 'oil spots', which on the exterior falls short of the small foot exposing the fine grey ware.

Provenance: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Note: This bowl is a Jin imitation of a Shanxi ceramic ware, likely made in Shandong province, in the 12th-13th centuries, based on the circular foot ring, medium-brown underglaze, and iron-bearing slip. The iron-bearing slip used on wares made in Shanxi form distinct clusters not seen in the glaze of the present bowl. Two similar Cizhou-type bowls, also made in Shandong province, are illustrated by Robert D. Mowry in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown-and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Cambridge, 1996, pp. 153-55, nos. 46-47.

Lot 789. A Cizhou-type russet-splashed blackish-brown-glazed bowl, Jin dynasty, 12th-13th century; 3 7/8 in. (9.8 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 4,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

The bowl has conical sides that round up to the rim and is covered with a lustrous, blackish-brown glaze splashed inside and out with russet markings, which ends on the exterior above the foot exposing the pale grey ware. 

Provenance: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Lot 791. A large Cizhou-type painted ovoid jar, Jin dynasty (1115-1234); 15¾ in. (40 cm.) high. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 50,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

The jar is freely painted in brown on a white slip with two shaped panels, one with a boy and a peony stem, the other with a bird with spread wings standing on one foot beside a further peony, the two panels separated by flower sprigs below a border of chrysanthemum sprays on the shoulder, all under a clear glaze. The interior is covered with a brown glaze wash. 

Provenance: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Note: A large painted Cizhou jar of related shape and design, decorated with a child amongst peony, is illustrated in Porcelains from the Tianjin Municipal Museum, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 61, where it is dated to the Jin dynasty. A second jar of the same design as the Tianjin Museum example was discovered off the coast of Liaoning in 1994 near a Yuan dynasty ship wreck and is illustrated in A Journey Into China's Antiquity, Vol. 4. Yuan-Qing Dynasty, Beijing, 1997, no. 22.

Lot 795. A copper-red-decorated 'mallet'-shaped vase, Kangxi six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1662-1722); 7 1/8 in. (18 cm.) high. Estimate USD 10,000 - USD 15,000. Price realised USD 47,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

The domed body and tall neck are decorated with two stylized phoenixes grasping a ring in their beaks, in tones of greyish-rose, olive-green and pink, their eyes in underglaze blue. 

Provenance: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Literature: Dr. Peter M. Greiner, A Walk into China's Past,Michigan, 1980, pl. 18, no. 71.

Exhibited: Battle Creek, Michigan, A Walk into China's Past, 1980-1981, no. 71.

Note: Vases of this mallet or 'horse hoof' shape with similar decoration in copper red only are in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated by Wang Qingzheng (ed.) in Kangxi Porcelain from the Shanghai Museum Collection, Hong Kong, 1998, p. 108, no. 71, and in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Sekai Toji Zenshu, vol. 15, Tokyo, 1983, pl. 141.

Lot 796. A miniature brown-glazed lobed vase, 18th century; 4 in. (10.2 cm.) high. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 20,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.  

The body is vertically lobed below a band of ruyi heads in relief on the shoulder, and the waisted neck is carved with flutes that rise to the everted, petal-tipped rim. The vase is covered overall with a glaze of russet-brown color. 

Provenance: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Lot 797. A celadon-glazed molded flower-form dish, Qianlong six-character seal mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1736-1795); 11¼ in. (28.5 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 4,000 - USD 6,000. Price realised USD 9,375. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.   

The shallow dish is molded on the interior as a large peony blossom with rows of petals that rise to the scalloped rim, and is covered allover with a glaze of pale blue-green color, while the foot is covered with a dark brown dressing.  

Provenance: B. Turner, Nottingham, England.
Sotheby's London, 3 October 1978, lot 122.
Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Lot 798. A small celadon-glazed incised dish, Yongzheng six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double circle and of the period (1723-1735); 4 5/8 in. (11.6 cm.) diam. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. Price realised USD 18,750. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.   

The dish has shallow rounded sides incised on the exterior with lingzhi scroll under a pale blue-green glaze. The interior is white.  

Provenance: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Note: Compare the pair of similar Yongzheng-marked dishes of this design and size sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 June 2011, lot 3518.

Lot 799. An unusual Dehua gu-form vase, 17th-18th century; 16 7/8 in. (43 cm.) high. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 9,000. Price realised USD 6,250. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.     

The tall, slender vase has applied and impressed archaistic decoration and is covered with a milk-white glaze that covers the base and continues over the rim into the neck.   

Provenance: Christie's New York, 19 January 1976, lot 157.
Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Lot 800. A flambé-glazed globular truncated vase, Yongzheng four-character incised seal mark and of the period (1723-1736); 9 in. (23 cm.) high, 10 in. (25.5 cm.) wide. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. Price realised USD 20,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

The sides are encircled by two double bow-string bands and the shoulder is applied with three ram's heads glazed yellowish-brown in contrast to the streaked glaze of milky blue, buff and reddish-purple color that covers the body. The interior is covered in a milky blue glaze and the base with a 'crawled' celadon and pale russet glaze that covers the mark. 

Provenance: Parish-Watson & Co., Inc., New York.
Donrose Galleries, Chicago, June 1979
Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Lot 801. A Guan-type cong-form vase, Guangxu six-character mark in underglaze blue and of the period (1875-1908); 11 in. (28 cm.) high. Estimate USD 8,000 - USD 12,000. Price realised USD 20,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.  

The heavily-potted vase has faceted sides decorated in relief with the Eight Trigrams, and is covered allover with a glaze of pale aqua color suffused with golden crackle, the bottom of the foot is covered with a black dressing.  

Provenance: Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Literature: Dr. Peter M. Greiner, A Walk into China's Past, Michigan, 1980, no. 93.

Exhibited: Battle Creek, Michigan, A Walk into China's Past, 1980-1981, no. 93.

Lot 803. An archaistic iron-red-decorated stem bowl, 19th century; 6¼ in. (16 cm.) high, 7½ in. (19 cm.) wide. Estimate USD 5,000 - USD 7,000. Price realised USD 5,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.  

The compressed globular body of the bowl and the spreading pedestal are decorated in iron red and white with archaistic designs on an iron-red ground. A three-character inscription, Zhou Qi dou (dou of the Qi state of the Zhou dynasty), is inscribed in iron red on the bottom of the white interior, and a partially effaced six-character seal mark in iron red is at the top of the interior of the foot.  

Provenance: Nagatani Inc., Chicago, March 1986.
Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

Lot 804. A blue and white and relief-decorated 'phoenix tail' vase, Kangxi period (1662-1722); 17 in. (43.2 cm.) high. Estimate USD 12,000 - USD 18,000. Price realised USD 27,500. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014.   

The body and trumpet-shaped neck are decorated in blue and white with dragon roundels surrounded by relief decoration of peony scroll under a white glaze. One of thebabao, the pair of books is in underglaze blue within a double circle on the base.  

Provenance: Sotheby Parke-Bernet, New York, 12-13 March 1975, lot 362.
Dr. Peter M. Greiner (1940-2013) Collection.

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