Lot 700. A superb and rare Yaozhou celadon 'peony' box and cover, Northern song – Jin dynasty (960-1234); 13.2 cm, 5 1/4  in.. Estimate 400,000 — 600,000 HKD. Lot Sold 750,000  HKD (95,813 USD). © Sotheby's.

probably a chess box, swiftly incised around the exterior with nine cash coins between rows of small impressed florets, the slightly domed top carved with a large bloom borne on a curling stem and wreathed by undulating foliage. 

Note: This drum-shaped vessel, probably made to contain chess (weiqi) pieces, is exquisitely potted, decorated, glazed and fired and, not surprisingly, exceedingly rare. The Yaozhou kilns at Huangpu, southwest of Tongchuan city in Shaanxi province, which had gained renown through their pale green vessels with deep, large-scale carving in the Five Dynasties period (907-960), became China’s major suppliers of high-quality celadon wares in the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127). While they turned to producing bowls and dishes with incised or moulded designs on a vast scale, they also created a small number of vessels in other shapes, which were generally given particular attention and thus remained rare.

Comparisons to the present piece, with its charming applied florets to reproduce ‘drum nails’, are mainly found in the form of wasters discovered at the kiln site. One well-preserved box and cover recovered from the kiln site, of similar form and design, but with an additional foliate scroll around the centre, its glaze turned a very dark tone especially where it pooled, is published together with some chess pieces in Songdai Yaozhou yaozhi/The Yaozhou Kiln Site of the Song Period, Beijing, 1998, col. pl. XI’; also illustrated are fragments of boxes similar to the present piece or with additional carving, pl. LXXXIX, figs 1-3, and p. 332, fig. 167: 1-12; and similar covers, with applied or impressed florets, or lacking florets altogether, pl. XCIV, figs 3-5, and p. 346, fig. 172.

The complete example from the kiln site was included in the exhibition The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, pl. 76, together with a miniature version from the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, cat. no. 77, and a later version with more yellowish glaze, attributed to the Jin dynasty (1115-1234), also excavated from the kiln site, pl. 89.

A closely related Yaozhou box and cover of the same size from the collection of the Chang Foundation, Taipei, similarly incised with peonies at the top but left undecorated around the sides, illustrated in  James Spencer (comp.), Selected Chinese Ceramics from Han to Qing Dynasties, Chang Foundation, Taipei, 1990, cat. no. 37, was sold in these rooms, 3rd October 2017, lot 2, from the Le Cong Tang collection.

From the Le Cong Tang collection. A very rare Yaozhou celadon 'Peony' box and cover with 'Floret' appliques, Northern Song – Jin dynasty, 13.2 cm, 5 1/8  in. Sold for 4,900,000 HKD at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 3rd October 2017, lot 2. © Sotheby's.

Cf. my post: A very rare Yaozhou celadon 'Peony' box and cover with 'Floret' appliques, Northern Song – Jin dynasty

Sotheby's. Chinese Art, including Snuff Bottles and Jades from an Old Hong Kong Family Collection, Hong Kong, 28 november 2019