Lot 635. A russet-splashed 'partridge feather' lotus bud-form jar and cover, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234). Height 4 7/8 in., 12.4 cm. Estimate: US$40,000 - US$60,000. Unsold. Courtesy Sotheby's.

the elegantly rounded sides rising from a short slightly splayed foot to an incurved rim, the exterior covered with a lustrous dark-brown glaze irregularly splashed in russet-brown similar to 'partridge-feather' mottles, stopping unevenly above the foot and neatly at the rim to expose the buff-fired ware, the domed cover surmounted by a spherical knob, similarly glazed, the interior of the jar applied with a mottled brown glaze.