Lot 636. A Yue celadon handled jar, Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD); d. 34 cm. Estimate 5,000 - 10,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

sturdily body with a baluster body rising to a broad shoulder and short flared rim, the upper body with three raised grooved bands, interrupted by a pair of mask loop handles and covered with an olive-green glaze stopping around the mid-section, Japanese wood box.

Lot 637. A painted pottery figure of a boar, Six Dynasties (265-589); 29.5 cm. Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

the animal standing firmly with its tail sprung sharply upwards, set towards the front of its spine three triangular spikes, behind its lowered head detailed with a pair of almond-shaped eyes and a protruding snout, the pottery of a greyish buff tone and covered with straw-coloured glaze, wood stand and Japanese wood box.

Note: This piece is notable for the lively expression of the beast, its body rendered to suggest movement. Ceramic beasts of this type are discussed by Ezekiel Schloss in the catalogue to the exhibition Art of the Han, China Institute in America, New York, 1979, p. 64, where he suggests that they were popular tomb guardians that were meant to protect the deceased from evil spirits. A similar beast, attributed to the Western Jin dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum. Sculpture, vol. 1, Funeral Figures and Molds from the Warring States Period to the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Beijing, 2011, pl. 168. See also one carved with wings, unearthed in Yanshi county, Henan province, and now in the Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Beijing University, illustrated in Angela Falco Howard et. al., Chinese Sculpture, New Haven, 2006, fig. 2.2; one with knobs applied to the spine, unearthed from Zhengzhou, Henan province and now in the Henan Provincial Museum, Zhengzhou, illustrated in Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 10, Tokyo, 1982, pl. 272; another included in the exhibition Art of the Han, op.cit., cat. no. 40; and a larger example with pronounced ribs, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, illustrated in Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, pl. 50. Compare also a similar piece sold in these rooms, 1st April 2019, lot 3008.

Lot 602. A Xingyao white-glazed jar and cover, Tang dynasty (618-907); 20.7 cm. Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

of ovoid form with steep rounded shoulders rising to a short waisted neck and flared rim, the domed cover surmounted with bud-form finial, Japanese wood box.

Lot 610. A very rare appliqué-decorated sancai-glazed 'medallion' jar and cover, Tang dynasty (618-907); 30 cm. Estimate 200,000 - 400,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

sturdily potted with a well-balanced tapered body rising to rounded shoulder, applied to the high shoulder with three large, crisply moulded floral medallions overlapping double grooved bands, interspersed with additional floral appliqués, surmounted by a cover set with a lotus-bud finial, splashed overall with green, amber and cream glazes falling irregularly on the lower body to expose the pale buff body, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Collection of Ito Shobei.
Ito ke shuzohin nyusatsu [Catalogue of the Ito family collection at Ichinohashi, Kyoto], Kyoto Art Club, 15th May 1933, lot 227.
Collection of Sasakawa Shin'ichi (1889-1937), architect renowned for his residential works in the Hanshin area in Japan.

Literature: Sasakawa Akio, Sasakawa Shin'ichi Korekushon [Catalogue of Sasakawa Shin'ichi Collection], Osaka, 1939, n. pag.

Exhibited: Illustrated Catalogues of the Special Exhibition in Memory of the New Building, Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, 1966, cat. no. 257.

Lot 632. A sancai-glazed tripod incense burner, Tang dynasty (618-907); 21.5 cm. Estimate 50,000 - 100,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

potted with a compressed globular body rising from three short cabriole legs to a short neck and flared rim, decorated with irregular green, ochre and cream splashes falling short of the lower body and underside to reveal the pale buff body, Japanese wood box.

Lot 634. A sancai-glazed pottery figure of a court lady, Tang dynasty (618-907); 40 cm. Estimate 80,000 - 160,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

depicted standing and dressed in a voluminous dress decorated in straw and green, the hands rendered clasped together below the waist, a pair of pointed slippers peeking out from under the garment hem, the features of her face detailed in black and red pigments, affixed to a wood stand, Japanese wood box.

Lot 604. An exceptional Longquan celadon 'kinuta' arrow vase, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 28 cm. Estimate 1,500,000 - 2,000,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

potted with an ovoid body supported on a tall foot, surmounted by a long cylindrical neck decorated with two raised ribs, flanked by two tubular handles, covered overall save for the footring in an unctuous bluish-green glaze suffused with widely dispersed crackles, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: Collection of Hayakawa Senkichirō (1863-1922).
Hayakawa-ke Goshozohin nyusatsu [Collection of the Hayakawa Family], Tokyo Art Club, Tokyo, 1923, lot 292.

Note: Glowing with a soft sea-green tone, this grand vase is an exquisite example of the finest wares produced at the Longquan kilns in the Southern Song dynasty. Its delicate jade-like surface, suffused with crackles, perfectly complements the simplicity and harmony of its unassuming yet elegant shape. Known to Japanese connoisseurs as kinuta (‘mallet’), after its more common appearance on vases of a ‘mallet’ shape, this luminous blue-green glaze effect appears to only be found on the highest quality of Longquan ceramics and has long been coveted by collectors. Some scholars even suggest that these exemplary wares – unprecedented in earlier Longquan production – may have been produced under imperial patronage which had erstwhile been limited to the ‘official’ guan kilns of Hangzhou; see Suzanne G. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1989, p. 99.

The simple archaic form of the present lot is typical of the refined aesthetics in vogue at the height of the Song dynasty. Following a dramatic political shift from a society ruled by a hereditary aristocracy to one governed by a central bureaucracy of highly educated scholar-officials, the Song dynasty saw the rise of a Neo-Confucian ideology, in which conceptions of virtue and beauty were derived from the ideals of the past. With a jade-like glaze and cylindrical handles inspired by archaic bronze vessels, the present piece is a testament to this new fascination with antiquity and the skilful appropriation of ancient aesthetics into the Song artistic repertoire. 

Very few vases of this remarkable quality and size still survive. Compare two very similar vases of this shape from the Qing court collection: one preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, exhibited in Tianxia Longquan: Longquan qingci yu quanqiuhua / Longquan of the World: Longquan Celadon and Globalization, vol. II, Beijing, 2019, cat. no. 12; the other in the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated in Lung-chüan Ware of the Sung Dynasty, Hong Kong, 1962, pl. 3, alongside a similar vase in the more conventional shape of a bronze hu, inscribed with a poem from the Qianlong Emperor, pl. 1. See also a slightly larger vase sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 1st December 2009, lot 1862; and another, of smaller size, from a Japanese private collection, exhibited in Longquan Ware: Chinese Celadon Beloved of the Japanese, Nagoya, 2012, cat. no. 20.

Two other related vases are known, very similar to the present but with more dramatically flared rims and single bow-string designs around their necks: one from the collection of the Kanagawa Prefectural Museum, illustrated in Mayuyama, Seventy Years, vol. I, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 481; the other sold at Christie’s London, 15th December 1980, lot 167 and again, 15th July 1981, lot 105.

Lot 607. An extremely rare qingbai 'boys' meiping, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 28.6 cm. Estimate 300,000 - 600,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

the ovoid body rising to a broad round shoulder and short narrow waisted neck with carinated mouth, boldly decorated around the exterior on either side with a pair of freely incised figures of boisterous young boys, interrupted by a luxuriant floral meander of lily and lotus blooms all borne on scrolling stems, all within double-line bands, covered overall in a rich ice-blue glaze pooling to darker tones within the carved recesses and falling short of the unglazed foot revealing the off-white body, Japanese double wood boxes.

Literature: Seizo Hayashiya, Chugoku no Touji [China's Ceramics], Tokyo, 1955, cat. no. 3.
Fujio Koyama ed., Chinese Ceramics: One hundred selected masterpieces from collections in Japan, England, France and America. Tokyo, 1960, p. 63.
Gakuji Hasebe, Ceramic Art of the World - Volume 12 - Sung Dynasty. Tokyo, 1977, cat. no. 166.

Exhibited: Chugoku Meito Hyaku-sen/A Loan Exhibition of One Hundred Selected Masterpieces from Collections in Japan, England, France and America, Takashimaya, Tokyo, 1960, cat. no. 40.
Chugoku So Gen Bijutsu ten/Chinese Arts of the Sung and Yuan Periods, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1961, cat. no. 241.
Chugoku Meito Hyaku-sen /A Loan Exhibition of One Hundred Selected Masterpieces, Takashimaya, Osaka, 1961, cat. no. 43.
Tokyo Olympic Kinen Kobijutsu Meihin zuroku [Tokyo Olympic Memorial Masterpieces of antiquities], Fugendo, Tokyo, 1964, cat. no. 58.
Shinkan kansei kinen tokubetsu tenrankai zuhan mokuroku/Illustrated Catalogues of the Special Exhibition in Memory of the New Building, Kyoto National Museum, Kyoto, 1966, cat. no. 269.
Chugoku toji ten [Exhibition of Chinese ceramics], Akita Municipal Museum of Art, Akita, 1969, no. 8.

Note: Outstanding for the deftly carved design of large figures of boys playing amongst scrolling vines, it is rare to find qingbai vases decorated with this scene which more commonly adorned smaller surfaces such as bowls and dishes. The combed lines of the background add structure and variation to the design, allowing the figures to stand out as if in relief.

The present vase distinguishes itself with its robust and confidently carved decoration. Qingbai wares ranged from thin and delicate to more stoutly potted forms such as the present example. Produced at a number of kilns in the provinces of Jiangxi, Fujian and Anhui, qingbai ware, also known as yingqing, refers not to the locales where the kilns were located but to their appearance. Qing (green) and bai (white) denote the alluring pale blue-green tones of the brilliant translucent glaze which so effectively complimented the white porcelaneous body beneath. The Southern Song ceramic historian Jiang Qi notes in his treatise Tao ji (Ceramic Records) that white porcelain produced in Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province was so refined and pure that it was known as raoyu (Jade of Rao), the region in which the Jingdezhen kilns were located. With some kiln modification, it is probable that these wares served as the foundation for the blue-and-white porcelain tradition of China from the 14th century onward. Although the early potters at Jingdezhen may have modelled their earliest qingbai pieces on Yue ware, by the Five Dynasties and Northern Song periods they often looked to Ding ware for aesthetic inspiration. This inspiration is perhaps evident on the present vase with its swift, confident lines of carving.

A similar meiping carved with large boys among lotus scrolls on a combed ground, probably excavated from the ruins of the Hosshō-ji, Kyoto, and now in the Kyoto National Museum, is illustrated in Hasebe Gakuji, ed., Sekai tōji zenshū/Ceramic Art of the World, vol. 12: Sō/Sung Dynasty, Tokyo, 1977, col. pl. 270, and in Hasebe Gakuji and Imai Atsushi, Chūgoku no tōji/Chinese Ceramics, vol. 12: Nihon shutsudo no Chūgoku tōji/Chinese Ceramics Excavated in Japan, Tokyo, 1995, col. pl. 57. Compare also a vase of this type, but carved with boys amongst a denser scrolling vines, from the Hamamatsu Municipal Museum of Art, Hamamatsu, included in the exhibition Song Ceramics, Tobu Museum of Art, Tokyo, 1999, cat. no. 50; and another with cover, decorated with smaller figures of boys, in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the West, Tokyo, 1960, pl. 54, and again in Splendour of Chinese Art. Selections from the Collections of T.T. Tsui Galleries of Chinese Art Worldwide, Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 100. See also a baluster vase with a flared foliate mouth, also carved with boys playing among scrolling peonies and camellias, all against a similar combed ground, in the Meiyintang collection, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, pl. 608. A closely related vase, of slightly larger size, was offered at Christie’s New York, 22nd March 1999, lot 258.

Designs depicting two or three small boys climbing stems of flowers were popular on a variety of objects and media including silver, bronze, textile, jade and various types of ceramics from the late Tang dynasty onwards. Jan Wirgin, in Sung Ceramic Designs, Goteborg, 1970, pp 179-184, discusses the origin of the design, suggesting it is an amalgamation and reinterpretation of Indian cave paintings of boys and the Buddhist motif of children representing reborn souls seated on lotus flowers from the Tang dynasty. Wirgin states that the main cause for the marked popularity of boys and flowers as a decorative motif was undoubtedly being its symbolic significance, which refers to the hope for numerous sons and abundance (p. 181).

For qingbai bowls carved with boys amongst scrolling vines, see one from the Kai-Yin Lo collection, included in the exhibition Bright as Silver, White as Snow, Denver Art Museum, Denver, 1998, cat. no. 39; and another published in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pls 162 and 163. Compare also qingbai meiping vases carved in a similar style with scrolling leaves and flowers against a combed background, for example in the Art Institute of Chicago, illustrated ibid., pl. 167; and in the Sichuan Provincial Museum, included in Zhongguo taoci quanji [The complete works of Chinese ceramics], vol. 8, Shanghai, 1999, pl. 179.

Lot 626. A Longquan celadon 'Eight Trigrams' incense burner, Late Yuan - early Ming dynasty; 31.2 cm. Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

robustly potted and raised on three mask-and-paw feet, the shallow rounded sides carved with the 'Eight Trigrams', between bands of applied bosses encircling the incurved rim and base, covered with a lustrous sea-green glaze falling short of the centre of the interior revealing a moulded floral design and the bevelled disc on the base, both burnt orange in the firing, Japanese wood box.

Note: Shallow sided, tripod bowls, most likely used to perfume the home, were popular luxury objects in the late Yuan, early Ming dynasty. Based on metal prototypes, the most famous ceramic examples were produced at the Longquan kilns in Zhejiang province in a shallow form such as the present example and of a taller cylindrical form. Similar examples of the present form are found in several notable museums and private collections. A similar bowl in the British Museum, London is illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, no. 16:85. Another example is illustrated in Bo Gyllensvard, Chinese Ceramics in the Carl Kempe Collection, Stockholm, 1964, p. 65, no. 157. Compare also a similar example decorated with bagua and florets rather than bosses, sold in our New York rooms, 20th March 2012, lot 40.

Lot 603. A Longquan celadon vase, Ming dynasty (1368-1644); 23.7 cm. Estimate 80,000 - 160,000 HKD. © Sotheby's 2024

sturdily potted with a compressed body supported on a tall foot, surmounted by a long cylindrical neck and a galleried rim, the body decorated with seven ribbed bands and appliqué-decorated with two handles in the form of an animal mask suspending a mock ring, covered overall save for the footring in an even sage-green glaze suffused with widely dispersed crackles, Japanese wood box.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gorō: A Selection I, Hong Kong, 29 October 2024