Lot 45. A 'Xing' white-glazed ewer, Tang dynasty (618-907); Height 19.7 cm. Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Sze Yuan Tang Collection.

Bonhams London, 9th November 2017, lot 15.

Lot 47. A sancai-glazed water dropper, Tang dynasty (618-907); Height 8.8 cm. Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 GBP. Lot sold 25,200 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Eskenazi, London, label no. 9716.

Sotheby's London, 10th June 1986, lot 105.

Lot 158. A sancai-glazed horse, Tang dynasty (618-907); Height 51.1 cm. Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Acquired prior to 1991.

Note: The dating of this lot is consistent with the result of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford authentication Ltd., no. 566t41.

Lot 159. Property from an Italian Private Collection. A large sancai-glazed figure of a horse, Tang dynasty (618-907); Height 68 cm. Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Acquired in Asia, circa 2000.
Christie's London, 15th May 2007, lot 195.

Lot 161. A large painted pottery figure of a prancing horse, Tang dynasty (618-907); Height 69.9 cm. Estimate 20,000 - 30,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 31st March / 1st April 2005, lot 265.
Bonhams San Francisco, 10th December 2015, lot 8158.

Note: Painted pottery horses sculpted in this lively and naturalistic fashion are rare. The head is skillfully carved and the rest of the body rendered with care in order to achieve the very complex position, whereby the horse is supported on three legs with a foreleg held up high and the hind legs far apart. Evidenced by the details of the drapery and trappings that are also carefully rendered, the masterly sculpting of this horse sincerely expresses the importance of horses in Tang society.

Compare a related prancing horse with similarly textured saddle included in the exhibition , Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, 1983, p. 69 (left); and another sold at Christie’s New York, 3rd June 1993, lot 186. Compare also a related white- and brown-glazed example of similar size, textured saddle and trappings, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Ni yinggai zhidao de 200 jian gudai taoyong /  The 200 Objects You Should Know. Pottery Figures, Beijing, 2007, pl. 182.

Lot 43. A small moulded white-glazed 'figural' vase , 10th century. Height 7 cm. Estimate 6,000 - 8,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Sze Yuan Tang Collection (according to label).

Lot 36. A carved 'Yaozhou' celadon-glazed 'peony' dish, Northern Song dynasty (960-1279). Diameter 18.4 cm. Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 GBP. Lot sold 13,200 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Sotheby's New York, 3rd June 1987, lot 228.

Lot 40. A rare small carved 'Ding'-type white-glazed 'lotus' water pot, Northern Song dynasty (960-1279). Width 8.3 cm. Estimate 6,000 - 8,000 GBP. Lot sold 66,000 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Note: Compare a closely related water pot in the National Palace Museum, Taipei, included in the museum’s Special Exhibition of Ting Ware White Porcelain, Taipei, 1987, cat. no. 13; and another example, from the Bai Ma Xuan Collection, sold in our New York rooms, 17th / 18th March 2015, lot 198.

Lot 42. A carved 'Ding' white-glazed 'lotus' bowl, Northern Song dynasty (960-1279). Diameter 19.1 cm, Japanese wood box (3). Estimate 30,000 - 50,000 GBP. Lot sold 36,000 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Acquired in Beijing, 1937.
Christie's New York, 23rd June 1983, lot 105.
Sotheby's New York, 12th June 1984, lot 212.
Japanese Private Collection.

Note: Elegantly potted and deftly carved with motifs from nature, the present bowl is representative of fine Ding ware and the aesthetic tastes of the Northern Song period. Rising clean out of muddy waters, the lotus was frequently associated with the scholar-official class during the Song dynasty, as it is symbolic of purity, integrity and the Confucian notion of virtue. 

Compare a similar bowl in the British Museum, London, illustrated in The World’s Great Collections: Oriental Ceramics, The British Museum, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1976, pl. 26; another in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Selection of Ding Ware. The Palace Museum's Collection and Archaeological Excavation, Beijing, 2012, pl. 64; a third bowl sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 26th November 2018, lot 8005; and a fourth example, formerly in the collections of Mrs. Alfred Clark and J.T. Tai, sold in our New York rooms, 22nd March 2011, lot 167.

Lot 46. A black-glazed 'ribbed' jar, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234). Height 16 cm. Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 GBP. Lot sold 9,600 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Dutch private collection.

Lot 37. A 'Longquan' celadon-glazed bowl, Southern Song dynasty (960-1279). Diameter 11.3 cm. Estimate 5,000 - 8,000 GBP. Lot sold 6,600 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Note: Compare a similar bowl excavated from the tomb of Southern Song scholar Shi Shengzu (1192-1274), now preserved in the Quzhou city Museum, Quzhou, illustrated in Zhu Boqian, Longquan yao qingci / Celadons from the Longquan Kiln, Taipei, 1998, pl. 138.

Lot 38. A 'Longquan' celadon-glazed 'lotus' bowl, Southern Song dynasty (960-1279). Diameter 16.1 cm. Estimate 5,000 - 10,000 GBP. Lot sold 6,000 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Collection of Enid and Brodie Lodge (1880-1967).

Exhibited: Celadon wares, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1947, cat. no. 71.

Lot 48. A 'Jian' 'hare's fur' bowl, Southern Song dynasty (960-1279). Diameter 13 cm, Japanese wood box (3). Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2024

Lot 44. A carved Qingbai 'floral' ewer and a cover, Southern Song dynasty-Yuan dynasty (1127-1368). Height 8.2 cm. Estimate 15,000 - 25,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2024

Note: Compare a closely related example in the Jiangxi Museum, Nanchang, illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji / The Complete Works of Chinese Ceramics, Song, 1999, Shanghai, pl. 134.

Lot 39. A 'Yaozhou' pale celadon-glazed tripod censer, Jin dynasty (1115-1234). Width 13.5 cm, Japanese silver cover, Japanese wood box (4). Estimate 6,000 - 8,000 GBP. Lot sold 24,000 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Japanese Private Collection.

Note: Covered with a subtle pale olive-green glaze and devoid of decoration, this is a notable example of Yaozhou ware from the Jin dynasty. Compare a similar censer illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji [Complete collection of Chinese ceramics], vol. 10: Yaozhou Yao [Yaozhou kiln], Kyoto, 1985, vol. 70, pl. 49; and another, sold in these rooms, 17th May 2019, lot 314.

Lot 41. A small 'Ding' white-glazed 'lotus' dish, Jin dynasty (1115-1234). Diameter 11.9 cm. Estimate 5,000 - 7,000 GBP. Lot sold 26,400 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Mineo Hata Collection.

Lot 35. A 'Longquan' celadon-glazed 'double-vajra' dish, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Diameter 31cm. Estimate 5,000 - 10,000 GBP. Lot sold 6,000 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Bluett & Sons Ltd., London, 1960.
Collection of the Principal Sture Nydell (1891-1986) and Valborg Nydell (1905-2003).

Exhibited: Sung, Chinese Ceramics, From the Collection of the Principal Sture Nydell, Röhsska Konstslöjdmuseet, Gothenburg, 1966, cat. no. 31.

Note: Compare a very similar dish of this rare design excavated from the tomb of Madame Ye (1356-1418) in the Song Sheng Family Tombs in Zhonghuamen, Nanjing, illustrated in J. M. Addis, Chinese Ceramics from Datable Tombs, London, 1978, pls 39w and x; and two others preserved in the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, illustrated in Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul, vol. I, London, 1986, pls 194 and 195; compare also a smaller dish from the Seligman Collection of related double-vajra design but with additional incising around the perimeter, now preserved in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Jessica Harrison-Hall, Catalogue of Late Yuan and Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pl. 16:59.

Lot 156. Two large 'sancai'-glazed tiles, Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Length 124 cm. Estimate 5,000 - 8,000 GBP. Lot sold 6,000 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

Lot 157. A rare 'Fahua' 'lotus bouquet' vase, Ming dynasty, 16th century; Height 55.5 cm. Estimate 15,000 - 25,000 GBP. Unsold. © Sotheby's 2024

Provenance: Hôtel Drouot, 30th November - 2nd December 1921, lot 109.
Galerie Vandermeersch, Paris.
Compagnie de la Chine et des Indes, acquired in 1942.

Lot 121. A blue and white 'dragon' censer, Mark and period of Wanli (1573-1620). Width 13.9 cm. Estimate 8,000 - 12,000 GBP. © Sotheby's 2024

the base with a six-character mark in underglaze blue within a double rectangle.

Note: Compare a similar censer sold in our Hong Kong rooms, 10th April 2006, lot 1824, included in the exhibition The Fame of Flame: Imperial Wares of the Jiajing and Wanli Periods, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2010, cat. no. 101, from the collection of Kwong Yee Che, and sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 30th May 2024, lot 2833; and another, from the collection of V. W. Shriro, sold in these rooms, 28th May 1963, lot 128, and again in our New York rooms, 22nd March 2022, lot 71, from the collection of Dr Wou Kiuan.