Lot 726. A painted pottery handled jar, Neolithic period, Majiayao culture (ca 3300-200 BC); d. 46 cm; h. 41 cm. Lot Sold 44,500 HKD (Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

with an ovoid body surmounted by a waisted neck and flared rim, flanked on the sides by a pair of loop handles, decorated around the shoulder with four large roundels enclosing intersecting lines, each surrounded by further circles.

Lot 717. A Yue celadon handled jar, Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD); d. 30.5 cm; h. 28 cm. Lot Sold 107,950 HKD (Estimate 5,000 - 10,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

sturdily potted 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 above the mid-section, Japanese wood box.

Note: Compare a slightly larger Yue celadon jar, similarly decorated with mask handles, also from the collection of Sakamoto Gorō, sold in these rooms, 29th October 2024, lot 636.

Lot 718. A painted pottery figure of a horse, Han dynasty (206 BC-220 AD); l. 33 cm. Lot Sold 177,800 HKD (Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

rendered standing firmly, the head depicted with a pair of almond-shaped eyes and a protruding snout set with a post, below a further post at the top of the head, the back portrayed with a saddle, wood stand and Japanese wood box.

Lot 701. A rare sancai-glazed pottery jar, Tang dynasty (618-907); h. 19 cm; d. 22 cm. Lot Sold 114,300 HKD (Estimate 40,000 - 80,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

vibrantly decorated around the rounded exterior in green, blue, ochre, and cream with a geometric band of lozenge-shaped motifs, the lower body and base unglazed, Japanese wood boxes.

Lot 710. An extremely rare blue-splashed sancai-glazed 'lady and child' group, Tang dynasty (618-907); 39.8 cm. Lot Sold 1,778,000 HKD (Estimate 80,000 - 160,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

elegantly modelled with the black hair piled and tied into a rounded coiffure framing the full rounded face, the details pencilled in black and the cheeks portrayed applied with rouge, above the neck encircled with a necklace and the hands supporting a baby, further rendered wearing a long flowing green dress and with the amber upper section over long blue-splashed sleeves, a further blue-splashed scarf thrown over the shoulders and falling down the back, all supported on an oval base, Japanese wood box.

Provenance: The Mount Trust Collection of Captain Vivian Francis (1891–1968) and Mrs Cornelia Stuyvesant Vanderbilt Bulkeley-Johnson (1900–1976), Oxford.

Exhibited: The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1955, cat. no. 20.

The Mount Trust Collection of Chinese Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1970, cat. no. 31.

Bi no bi [The beauty of beauty], Nihonbashi Mitsukoshi, Tokyo, 1976, cat. no. 43.

Note: Large polychrome-glazed figures of Tang ladies such as the present example are extremely rare, and the present figure appears to be unique in holding a child which forms part of the original model. The majority of related figures are unglazed and empty-handed, a number of unglazed ladies are holding birds, and several are holding items which have been added later.

One closely related figure, a polychrome glazed lady holding a songbird, formerly in the collections of Dr Alessandro Campilli and Mario Prodan, sold in our London rooms, 10th June 1986, lot 26, as part of an important European collection of Tang pottery, metalwork and sculpture, was included in the exhibition Mostra d'Arte Cinese, Palazzo Ducale, Venice, 1954, cat. no. 320 and is illustrated in Mario Prodan, The Arts of the Tang Potter, London, 1960, col. pl. II. The remarkable similarities with the present figure in the model, the colours and the application of the glazes, which fully cover the plinth, suggest that both figures were made by the same workshop and at the same time.

Lot 713. A large painted pottery figure of a court lady, Tang dynasty (618-907); h. 54.5 cm. Lot Sold 304,800 HKD (Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

portrayed dressed in a long robe draping to voluminous folds at the base while exposing the tips of the shoes, her rendered portrayed folded as though holding something near the chest, the reddish earthenware with traces of white slip, wood stand and Japanese wood box.

Lot 714. A green-glazed tripod jar, Tang dynasty (618-907); d. 18.5 cm; h. 14 cm. Lot Sold 57,100 HKD (Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

with a compressed globular body rising from three lion-paw legs to a constricted neck and flared rim, the exterior covered with a moss-green glaze falling just over the upper section of the legs and revealing the body, Japanese wood box.

Lot 720. A large painted pottery figure of a court lady, Tang dynasty (618-907); h. 55 cm. Lot Sold 825,500 HKD (Estimate 10,000 - 20,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

depicting wearing a long robe detailed with floral motifs and draping to voluminous folds at the base while exposing the tips of the shoes, her arms portrayed folded as though holding something near the chest, the reddish earthenware with traces of white slip, wood stand and Japanese wood box.

Note: Sensitively fashioned with a plump face, small heart-shaped lips and the head elegantly tilted to one side, pottery figures with such voluptuous features are attributed to the first half of the 8th century, and in particular to the reign of Emperor Xuanzong (r. 712-756). The plump features of these figures, their long voluminous robes and flamboyant hairstyles are believed to be representative of the aesthetic trend led by the famous imperial concubine Yang Guifei (719-756), beloved consort of the emperor. The figure’s distinctive hairstyle, known as ‘zhuimaji (falling off the horse bun)’, originated according to legend with the Emperor’s fascination with Yang Guifei’s appearance after she fell from a horse. 

Lot 704. A qingbai melon-form ewer, Song dynasty (960-1279); 24.5 cm. Lot Sold 69,850 HKD (Estimate 30,000 - 60,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

the melon-form lobed body rising from a foot to a tall, waisted cylindrical neck, set with a strap handle opposite the curved spout, the handle detailed with a small loop at the top, covered overall save for the base with a clear glaze pooling to a light blue in the recesses, Japanese wood box.

Note: See a slightly taller qingbai melon-form ewer with a flat base, from the collection of Mineo Hata, sold in these rooms, 29th October 2024, lot 2024.

Lot 709. A rare large qingbai 'boys' meiping, Song dynasty (960-1279); 38 cm. Lot Sold 381,000 HKD (Estimate 300,000 - 600,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

well potted of generous proportions with sides steeply rising to broad rounded shoulders surmounted by a short neck with a carinated mouth, boldly decorated around the exterior 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 beige body, Japanese wood box.

Note: Outstanding for the deftly carved design of large figures of boys playing amongst scrolling vines, it is especially rare to find qingbai vases of such large proportions 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.

Lot 703. A Longquan celadon arrow vase, Song - Yuan dynasty (960-1368); 24.3 cm. Lot Sold 254,000 HKD (Estimate 20,000 - 40,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

with a compressed globular body supported on a tall foot, surmounted by a long cylindrical neck flanked by two tubular handles, covered overall save for the footring in a pale moss-green glaze, Japanese wood box.

Note: The simple archaic form of the present lot is typical of the refined aesthetics in vogue at the height of the Song dynasty, which continued well into the subsequent periods. For a Han dynasty bronze prototype of this shape, but without handles, see an example in the Freer Gallery of Art Collection, no. F1966.14.

A Longquan handled vase of this form, but of much smaller proportions (16.8 cm), attributed to the 12th-13th century, from the collections of Wayland Wells Williams, B.A. 1910, is in the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, no. 1949.278, and exhibited in The Scholar as Collector: Chinese Art at Yale, Yale University Art Gallery and China Institute in America, New York, 2004, no. 26, fig. 8. Another smaller example (27 cm), with longer handles and a straight foot, attributed to the 14th century, is preserved in the Hagi Uragami Museum and exhibited in Longquan ware: Chinese Celadon Beloved of the Japanese, Aichi Prefectural Ceramic Museum, Nagoya, 2012, cat. no. 68. A further pair of small Yuan vases (15.5 cm) was exhibited in Art of China and Japan, Huntsville Museum of Art, Alabama, 1977, cat. no. 64 and again in Heaven and Earth Seen Within, New Orleans Museum of Art, Louisiana, 2000, cat. no. 62, and sold at Christie's New York, 30th March 2005, lot 324.

Lot 702. A sancai-glazed carved 'peony' pillow, Jin dynasty (1115-1234); 31 cm. Lot Sold 152,400 HKD (Estimate 20,000 - 40,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

of bean shape, the top deftly incised with a peony blossom borne on a leafy scroll, decorated in amber and green glazes against a creamy-white ground, the sides of the pillow incised with double-line borders along the upper and lower edges and covered in an amber glaze, the base left unglazed, Japanese wood box.

Lot 721. A Longquan celadon vase, Yuan - Ming dynasty (1115-1234); 24 cm. Lot Sold 203,200 HKD (Estimate 20,000 - 40,000 HKD) © Sotheby's 2025

with a compressed body supported on a tall foot, surmounted by a long cylindrical neck and a galleried rim, the neck flanked by 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, Japanese wood box.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gorō: A Selection II,  Hong Kong, 17 April - 7 May 2025