A shufu moulded 'dragon' stem bowl, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)
Lot 3289. A shufu moulded 'dragon' stem bowl, Yuan dynasty (1279-1368); 3 3/4 in. (9.4 cm.) high. Estimate HKD 120,000 - HKD 180,000. Price Realized HKD 500,000. © Christie's Images Ltd 2013
The bowl with rounded sides rising to an everted rim, moulded on the wall of the interior with two striding scaly dragons among scrolling clouds surrounding a central flowerhead, supported on a ribbed hollow stem. The stem bowl is covered overall with an opaque unctuous white glaze with a faint bluish tinge, with the exception of the ring foot and part of the stem interior.
Provenance: Professor and Madame Robert de Strycker Collection, purchased from Stanley Charles Nott, 1940.
Exhibited: Umezawa Gallery, Tokyo, Ceramics of the Sung Dynasty, 1969, and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 32.
Note: Although Northern black-glazed jars of this type with lug handles are known, it is quite rare for them to retain their covers. The current jar is also very successfully fired, with its attractive, bold russet splashes beautifully set off against a dark, lustrous black ground. The distinctive decoration on this type of wares are poetically called 'partridge feather', since the spots apparently resemble the pattern on the chest of partridges, with characteristic small brownish white spots.
Compare a closely related jar in the Robert Barron Collection, which has a taller neck and more tapered lower body, illustrated in Heaven and Earth Seen Within, New Orleans Museum of Art, 2000, no. 32. Compare also two black-glazed vessels from the Falk Collection, one a baluster vase, sold at Christie's New York, 20 September 2002, lot 288; the other a covered bowl, sold at Christie's New York, 1 October 2001, lot 83.
Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art (Including The Su Zhu An Collection of Inkstones), Hong Kong, 27 November 2013