Lot 2084. A Cizhou-type brown-painted black-glazed ovoid bottle, xiaokou ping, Jin dynasty (1115-1234); 9 in. (23 cm.) high. Estimate USD 7,000 - USD 10,000. Price Realized USD 15,625. © Christie's Images Ltd 2014. 

The broad, high-shouldered body is freely painted in russet brown slip on two sides with a large flower, perhaps suggesting an iris or a lily, that has fired matte in contrast to the lustrous blackish-brown glaze that covers the body and the small, waisted mouth. The base is covered in a thinner wash of the blackish-brown glaze, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Private collection, Japan.

Note: Ovoid jars of this type, with these distinctive small, ringed mouths, are termed xiaokou ping (small-mouthed bottles) and were probably sealed with a fabric-wrapped wooden dowel and used for storing wine and other liquids. Typically dark-glazed, such bottles are often painted in russet or rust-brown slip with abstract floral decoration or designs suggestive of birds in flight, rendered in vigorous, calligraphic strokes. A bottle of this type, painted distinctly with stems of chrysanthemum, from the collection of Robert E. Barron III, M.D., was sold at Christie's New York, 30 March 2005, lot 303.

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 20 - 21 March 2014