Lot 178. A sancai and blue-glazed pottery box and cover, Tang dynasty (618-1125). Height 9¾ in., 24.8 cm. Estimate: 4,000 - 6,000 USD. Lot sold: 12,600 USD. © Sotheby's 2021

the elongated ovoid body resting on a spreading foot and rising to a rounded swelling shoulder, capped by a tapering cylindrical neck, the narrow sides applied with a pair of ridged flanges evoking dorsal fins terminating in a pair of loop handles at the shoulder, the broad sides each incised with an upright fish, raised bosses for the eyes, all under cream, apple-green and amber glazes, the recessed base unglazed revealing the buff clay body.

Provenance: Acquired prior to 2000.

Note: Compare a similar 'fish' vessel, though lacking the loop handles and with straight flanges, attributed to the Liao dynasty and published in Yuzo Sigimura, Toji takei: Ryō no toji [Liao Dynasty Ceramics], vol. 40. Tokyo, 1974, pl. 10. See also a related Tang dynasty sancai-glazed 'twin fish' vase in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (acc. no. C.88-1939).

Sotheby's. Important Chinese Art, New York, 21 September 2021