Lot 1038. A superb and very rare carved white ware ewer and cover, Liao dynasty (AD 916-1125); 9 in. (22.5 cm.) high, hardwood stand and cloth box. Estimate USD 100,000 – USD 150,000. Price realised USD 441,000. © Christie's 2022

The ewer is carved on the body with overlapping petals below a band of peony sprays encircling the shoulder, which is set with an everted knife-cut spout opposite the strap handle. The ewer and cover are covered overall with a transparent glaze. 

Provenance: The J. M. Hu (1911-1995), Zande Lou Collection.

Literature: Helen D. Ling and Edward T. Chow, Collection of Chinese Ceramics from the Pavilion of Ephemeral Attainment, vol. I, Hong Kong, 1950, no. 8.

Note: This rare and exquisite wine ewer is exceptional for its fine potting, beautiful white porcelain body and the elegant carving of the peony spray on the shoulder and the overlapping lotus petals on the lower body. A very similar Liao white ware ewer, but with overlapping leaves or petals on the shoulder, excavated from a tomb at Baitazi, Kazuo county, Liaoning province, and now in the Lianing Provincial Museum, is illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China – 2 – Tianjin, Liaonin, Jilin, Heilongjing, Beijing, 2008, no. 103, where it is attributed to the Longquanwu kiln, Beijing. See, also, the white ware ewer and cover, together with a warming bowl and a cup and cup stand of the same ware, dated to the Liao dynasty, late 10th or early 11th century, included in the exhibition, Gilded Splendor - Treasures from China's Liao Empire (907-1125), Asia Society and Museum, New York, 2006, pp. 340-41, no. 107 a-d. Also illustrated, p. 340, fig. 116, is a detail of a mural in the tomb of Zhang Shiqing in Xuanhua, Hebei province, dated to 1116, which depicts an occasion and setting in which such a group of vessels might have been used to serve wine. A Northern Song Ding ewer and cover of similar form and carved on the lower body with overlapping lotus petals, and with overlapping lotus petals on the shoulder, in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, is illustrated in Zhongguo Taoci Quanji, 9,  Dingyao, Kyoto, 1981, no. 37.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 25 march 2022