Lot 2801. A rare small Qingbai vase, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 5 ¾ in. (14.5 cm.) high, box. Price realised HKD 350,000 (Estimate HKD 60,000 - HKD 80,000). © Christie's 2021
The vase is raised on a spreading foot rising towards the globular body below the trumpet neck supporting a cup-shaped mouth. It is covered with a translucent glaze of aquamarine tone.
Lot 2802. A Qingbai zhadou, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 7 3⁄8 in. (18.9 cm.) diam., box. Price realised HKD 350,000 (Estimate HKD 120,000 - HKD 180,000). © Christie's 2021
The jar rises from a flat base towards a small globular body beneath a widely flared rim. The wide mouth is incised with a foliate scroll.
Exhibited: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, The Multiplicity of Simplicity - Monochrome wares from the Song to the Yuan dynasties, 2012, no. 17.
Lot 2803. A fine and rare Qingbai 'lotus' conical bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 7 in. (17.9 cm.) diam., box. Price realised HKD 875,000 (Estimate HKD 240,000 - HKD 300,000). © Christie's 2021
The bowl is exquisitely potted with wide flaring sides rising from a small foot ring. The interior is delicately carved with lotus blossoms growing elegantly from undulating stems amid water weeds and flower heads. It is covered overall with a pale blue glaze appearing lucid in areas where it pools.
Exhibited: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, The Multiplicity of Simplicity - Monochrome wares from the Song to the Yuan dynasties, 2012, no. 2.
Lot 2805. A fine and rare Qingbai fish basket-form jar and cover, Song dynasty (960-1279); 3 1⁄2 in. (9 cm.) high, Japanese wood box. Price realised HKD 93,750 (Estimate HKD 80,000 - HKD 100,000). © Christie's 2021
Potted in the form of a woven bamboo basket and lid, both are covered in a translucent glaze of pale aquamarine tone.
Provenance: A Japanese private collection.
Lot 2806. A Qingbai foliate rim cup and cup stand, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 3 1⁄2 in. (9 cm.) high, Japanese wood box. Price realised HKD 225,000 (Estimate HKD 100,000 - HKD 150,000). © Christie's 2021
The cup has flared sides with six subtle petal-shaped lobes rising to a rim notched to conform to the lobed sides. The stand is potted with a central two-tiered platform, recessed at the top, all raised on a slightly splayed foot decorated with ruyi-form apertures. Both are covered with a translucent glaze of aquamarine tone.
Note: Compare an almost identical Qingbai cup and cup stand illustrated by J. Ayers in The Baur Collection - Chinese Ceramics, volume 1, Geneva, 1968, plate no. A 120 and also illustrated on the front cover.
Lot 2807. A rare Qingbai octogonal 'prunus' meiping and cover, Song dynasty (960-1279); 7 1⁄4 in. (18.5 cm.) high, box. Price realised HKD 437,500 (Estimate HKD 200,000 - HKD 300,000). © Christie's 2021
Both the vase and cover are of conforming octagonal shape and each facet is relief moulded with a prunus spray. The glaze of pale blue tone.
Exhibited: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, The Multiplicity of Simplicity - Monochrome wares from the Song to the Yuan dynasties, 2012, no. 15.
Note: Comparable qingbai octagonal vases with similar moulded decoration include one illustrated in Porcelain Collected by Anhui Province Museum, Beijing, 2002, p. 78, no. 62; the vase illustrated in China’s Jingdezhen Porcelain through the Ages, Beijing, 1998, p. 226; the example sold at Christie’s New York, 20 September 2005, lot 234; and another from Linyushanren Collection, sold at Christie’s New York, 15 September 2016, lot 728.
Lot 2808. A rare qingbai lotus-form cup and cup stand, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); Cup stand: 7 in. (17.7 cm.) diam., boxes. Price realised HKD 350,000 (Estimate HKD 120,000 - HKD 180,000). © Christie's 2021
The cup is well potted with petal-lobed sides, above a lotus blossom to the central medallion. The cup stand is moulded to the top with overlapping lotus petals. Both are covered in an attractive even greenish-blue glaze. The rims are bound in metal.
Lot 2809. A rare qingbai censer, Song dynasty (960-1279); 4 3⁄4 in. (12.1 cm.) high, box. Price realised HKD 437,500 (Estimate HKD 240,000 - HKD 300,000). © Christie's 2021
The censer is potted with a flat everted mouth and a u-shaped body rising from a pagoda-like base. The upper section of the base is modelled with a stylised chrysanthemum-form skirt. It is covered with a pale bluish-white glaze.
Exhibited: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, The Multiplicity of Simplicity - Monochrome wares from the Song to the Yuan dynasties, 2012, no. 18.
Note: During the Song dynasty, burning incense became a scholarly pursuit, and was practiced in small interior settings. Exquisite incense burners, such as the present example, are most suitable for use in a scholar’s studio. In the Northern Song painting Tingqin tu in the Palace Museum, Beijing, the main figure sits next to a xiangji on which a small censer, reminiscent of the present example, is seen burning incense. According to some scholars, this figure is probably Emperor Huizong himself.
Compare a large qingbai censer of similar form in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, illustrated in the Oriental Ceramics: the World’s Great Collections, vol. 1: Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1982, no. 65.
Lot 2810. A fine and rare qingbai 'dragon' vase, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 8 1⁄4 in. (20.8 cm.) high, Japanese wood box. Price realised HKD 600,000 (Estimate HKD 180,000 - HKD 250,000). © Christie's 2021
The globular vase with gently lobed sides divided by double ribs, is applied with a relief moulded dragon coiled around the neck, extending to the shoulder. The glaze of pale blue tone.
Provenance: A Japanese private collection.
Lot 2811. A rare large carved qingbai ‘peony’ bowl, Norhern Song dynasty (960-1127); 9 3⁄8 in. (23.8 cm.) diam., box. Price realised HKD 162,500 (Estimate HKD 150,000 - HKD 250,000). © Christie's 2021
The bowl is formed with a slightly everted foliate rim and is freely carved to the interior with two peonies and scrolling branches while the central medallion features a leafy spray. It is covered in an attractive pale glaze with a bluish tinge which pools within the crevices of the decoration, stopping at the mouth rim to expose the fine white body.
Provenance: An important Hong Kong family collection, acquired in the 1970's.
Exhibited: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, The Multiplicity of Simplicity - Monochrome wares from the Song to the Yuan dynasties, 2012, no. 5.
Lot 2812. A rare qingbai meiping and cover, Song dynasty (960-1279); 8 3⁄4 in. (22.5 cm.) high, box. Price realised HKD 4,375,000 (Estimate HKD 500,000 - HKD 700,000). © Christie's 2021
Both the vase and cover are covered with a translucent glaze of a lustrous bluish tone, the glaze on the vase ending above the foot revealing the white biscuit body.
Exhibited: Chugoku meito ten: Chugoku toji 2000-nen no seika (Exhibition of Chinese Pottery: Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics), Tokyo, 1992, p. 58
University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, The Multiplicity of Simplicity - Monochrome wares from the Song to the Yuan dynasties, 2012, no. 13 (one of two).
Christie's. The Songde Tang Collection - Song Dynasty Ceramics, Hong Kong, 3 december 2021
