Lot 113. A rare small 'oil spot' bowl, Jin dynasty (1115-1234). Diameter 8.8 cm. Lot Sold 37,800 GBP (Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 GBP). © Sotheby's

with rounded sides rising from a short straight foot to a rim bordered with a thin concave groove, covered overall in a lustrous black-brown glaze attractively suffused with glittering ‘oil spots’ of varying sizes in silvery iridescence, the glaze stopping short of the neatly-trimmed footring, revealing the unglazed dark grey body, the rim bound with gold metal.

Provenance: Priestley & Ferraro, London.

Note: Bowls of this form and with this attractive ‘oil spot’ glaze are discussed by Robert D. Mowry in the catalogue to the exhibition Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers. Chinese Brown-and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, 1996, pp. 149 and 150, where it is suggested that they were made at kilns in Northern China, in imitation of the popular Jian tea bowls made in Fujian province. The author further notes that the ‘oil spot’ effect on these bowls was achieved by adding a layer of black slip under two layers of iron-rich dark brown glaze. The telling trait of these bowls is the black slip that covers the entire foot and is designed to emulate the dark bodies of Jian bowls.

A similar bowl from the Sir Percival David Collection, now in the British Museum, London, was included in the exhibition Imperial Taste. Chinese Ceramics from the Percival David Foundation, British Museum, London, 1989, cat. no. 9.; two in the Harvard University Art Museums, Cambridge, were included in the exhibition Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers, op. cit., cat. nos. 43a and b; and another bowl was sold in our New York rooms, 15th September 2015, lot 8.