Lot 3. A 'Cizhou' sgraffiato black-glazed bottle vase, yuhuchun ping, Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234);30.2 cm, 11 7/8  in. Estimate 15,000 — 20,000 GBP. Courtesy Sotheby's

the pear-shaped body supported on a spreading foot and rising to a waisted neck and flared rim, covered overall in white slip overlaid with a brilliant brownish-black glaze, the central band around the body with the glaze cut away to reveal reserve-decorated leafy floral sprays, between similarly carved bands of foliate scroll, the recessed foot unglazed.

Property from the Rui Xiu Lou Collection.

Note: Elegantly modelled with a gently flaring neck, this vase is notable for its bold and fluidly carved motif of large blooms and curling leaves, set between two bands of delicately incised leafy scrolls. It is a particularly unusual example as the motif is carved against the buff-coloured body. 

Vases of this type, but displaying a layer of white slip under the black slip, are known carved with a wide variety of floral motifs; compare a vase with a lotus flower on the central band, attributed to the Xixia Dynasty (1038-1227), from the Hong Rui Tang collection, sold in these rooms, 12th December 1989, lot 250; one with a peony scroll, in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3 (II), London, 2006, pl. 1526; another with a lotus scroll, in the Osaka Municipal Museum of Arts, included in the Museum’s exhibition Charm of Black & White Ware; Transition of Cizhou Type Wares, Osaka, 2002, cat. no. 147; and a fourth vase with lotus sprays within cartouches, in the Ehime Bunkakan, Imabari, illustrated in Mayuyama: Seventy Years, Tokyo, 1976, vol. 1, pl. 596.  

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, London, 15 may 2019, 10:30 AM