Lot 129. A painted 'Cizhou' vase (meiping), Song dynasty or later. Height 12 1/2 in., 30.5 cm. Estimate 8,000 — 12,000 USD. Lot sold 23,750 USD. Photo Sotheby's

of slender ovoid form, the gently rounded shoulder rising to a small neck with conical mouth, exquisitely decorated with a wide band of two freely painted reserves depicting the 'Three Friends' (sui han san you), one panel of two scholars conversing in a garden, the reverse with the third scholar standing by a pine tree entwined with bamboo and prunus, below inscribed characters da song qingyuan san nian [third year of the Qingyuan of the great Song] corresponding to the year 1197, a band of further abstracted flowers above, repeated around the base, the foot ring unglazed revealing the buff-colored body, Japanese wood box (2).

Property from the Estate of Dr. and Mrs. Richard Eckhardt. 

Provenance: Acquired in Japan between 1947 and 1952 and thence by descent.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, New York, 11 september 2012