Lot 12. A magnificent and large olive-green-glazed 'lotus' vase and cover, Northern Qi dynasty (550-577); 65cm high; fitted box. Sold for US$406,900. © Bonhams 2001-2025

obustly potted, the baluster body raised on a tall spreading foot encircled by a band of radiating lotus petals, the lower body decorated with slender chicken-headed columns leading to eight roundels variously containing lotus flower heads and mythical animals, all beneath two relief registers of lotus lappets above tiger heads issuing acanthus leaves, the high shoulder applied with three strap handles, rising to a gently flaring neck with two registers of cartouches containing the image of the Buddha and floral sprays alternated with lion masks, all covered under an olive-green glaze, the domed cover decorated with eight acanthus leaves radiating from a bud-shaped finial.

Provenance: The Sze Yuan Tang collection, acquired in Hong Kong circa 1980s-1990s
Bonhams London, 9 November 2017, lot 13.

Note: The commanding presence and finely sculpted details have made the present lot among the best of the Northern Qi dynasty vases. The pale olive-green glaze and the earthenware body suggests that it belongs to the group of low-fired examples, as opposed to the high-fired stoneware body with celadon glaze. According to Suzanne G. Valenstein, Cultural Convergence in the Northern Qi Period: A Flamboyant Chinese Ceramic Container: a Research Monograph, New York, 2007, p. 20, '... as of this writing, there is little firm archaeological evidence concerning the kilns that produced the two groups of elaborately decorated ceramic considered here.'

Similar vases of baluster form with lotus petal decoration and appliqué roundels exist in museum collections around the world. Compare a covered vase unearthed from the Feng family cemetery complex in Jingxian, Hebei province, now in the National Museum of China, illustrated by James C.Y. Watt, China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD, New York, 2004, p. 248, pl. 145, noted by the author that 'This type of high-fired porcelaneous ware with carved and appliqué decoration has been found at sixth-century sites in both North China and the Nanjing area in the south. It is likely that it was produced in Hebei province, where the majority of the known examples have been found.'

Two other celadon-glazed vases with similar decorations, unearthed in 1948 from the Feng family cemetery, are illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Jin and Tang Dynasties, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 61, no. 56 and pp. 62-63, no. 57.

Compare also the vase of smaller size from the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, illustrated in Special Exhibition: Chinese Ceramics, Tokyo National Museum, Tokyo, 1994, no. 96. Another vase of smaller size from the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is illustrated by Valenstein, op. cit., p. 95.

Three closely-related vessels with crisp appliqué and design elements similar to the present lot, from the tomb of Lou Rui (d. 570) in Taiyuan, are illustrated by James C.Y. Watt, op. cit., p. 245, pl. 139-141, noted by the author that due to Lou Rui's wealth and his close association to the founding imperial family of the Northern Qi, the three vessels must have been made by the best craftsmen of his time.

The results of the thermoluminescence testing are consistent with the suggested dating of this lot, Oxford Authentication sample No. C109g14, 23 May 2009.

Lot 49. Property from The Alan & Simone Hartman Collection. A group of twenty three ceramic miniatures, Han to Tang dynasties; Between 2.5 to 7cm high (23). Sold for US$20,480. © Bonhams 2001-2025

Consisting of six glazed pottery vessels including sancai glazed amphora and jars, eight glazed pottery animals including a caparisoned horse, an ox, a tortoise, an elephant and nesting birds, and seven figures, including a monkey and young, a foreigner on a Bactrian camel, two children, a bearded foreigner and two painted pottery court ladies.

Provenance: Simone Hartman Collection.

Published: Carol Conover, 'Miniature Works of Art. The Simone Hartman Collection,' Arts of Asia, July-August 1992, pp. 52-60, figures 8, 14, 15, 24, 28, 33, and 37 form a part of this lot

Lot 50. Two painted pottery figures of 'foreign' boys, Tang dynasty (618-907); 28.9cm and 25.4cm) high (2). Sold for US$3,584. © Bonhams 2001-2025

Both standing with one arm raised and wearing short breeches, the taller with curly locks framing his youthful face and wearing a sash draped around his athletic body, the second a corpulent figure with downcast eyes and short cropped hair, each figure with traces of pigment.

Provenance: The Schloss Collection.
Christie's New York, 28 September 2000, lot 252.

Exhibited: Taller figure: Seeking Immortality: Early Chinese Ceramics from the Schloss Collection, Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, California, 6 October 1996 to 16 March 1997; Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Connecticut, 29 September 1998 to 3 January 1999

Published: Taller figure: Seeking Immortality: Early Chinese Ceramics from the Schloss Collection, Santa Ana, 1996, no. 88

Lot 51. Property from The Alan & Simone Hartman Collection. A painted pottery model of a horse and a paired groom, Tang dynasty (618-907); the horse: 55.6cm tall; the groom: 46.5cm (2). Sold for US$10,880. © Bonhams 2001-2025

The red-painted horse standing with raised (proper) right foreleg and head leaning slightly to its left (proper) side with open mouth, a simple blanket and saddle thrown across its back and left mostly in the biscuit as are the fetlocks and cannon bones on the lower limbs and the forehead and muzzle, supported on a triangular-shaped base; together with a standing groom with arms raised to hold a rein, his knee-length robes belted at the waist and painted in an orange pigment with green lapels.

Provenance: The Alan and Simone Hartman Collection

Lot 52. Property from the Estate of Jay and Mary Jayne Jones. A sancai-glazed caparisoned horse, Tang dynasty (618-907); 50.8cm high; 47cm across . Sold for US$16,384. © Bonhams 2001-2025

Standing foursquare on a rectangular plinth, the muscular steed fitted with an elegant, tasseled harness and bridle picked out in chestnut, green and cream glaze set off against its chestnut and straw-glazed body, hogged mane, and horsehair tail, the harness joined to an unglazed saddle still bearing traces of carmine and black pigment.

Lot 53. Property from The Alan & Simone Hartman Collection. A sancai-glazed pottery tripod dish, Tang dynasty (618-907); 23.8cm diam. Sold for US$11,520. © Bonhams 2001-2025

The interior molded with a central flower, each of the six-petals accented by a carefully controlled blue glaze and surrounding a further flowerhead, rendered on a field of stippled amber and cream and enclosed by a broad, green-glazed rim, the underside with a pooling amber glaze exposing the hard, buff body supported by three short feet.

Provenance: The Alan and Simone Hartman Collection

The results of the thermoluminescence testing are consistent with the suggested dating of this lot, Oxford Authentication sample No. C125k21, 4 August 2025.

Lot 13. A Cizhou brown-painted footed lamp, Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234); 11.7cm high; 17cm diam. Sold for US$7,680. © Bonhams 2001-2025

The short cylindrical bowl with a disc-shaped rim supported on a wide waisted base, decorated with freely painted scrolling vines and leafy groups, the tall foot with horizontal thick and thin strips, all on a cream-white wash and under a clear glaze, the interior unglazed revealing the buff stoneware body.

Provenance: Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Bernat
Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc, New York, 7 November 1980, lot 118
The Alan and Simone Hartman Collection.

Exhibited: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Loan Exhibition, Boston, 1947, no. 97

Lot 14. A small Ding-type ribbed jar, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 8.2cm high. Sold for US$3,200. © Bonhams 2001-2025

Thinly potted with square a shoulder and straight neck, the deep rounded body carved with vertical strips, all supported by a short ring foot, covered overall in an ivory-tinged glaze.

Provenance: Collection of Nicholas de la Mare Thompson
R & G McPherson Antiques, London, 2017, no. 187

Lot 15. A small Longquan celadon washer, Northern Song-Yuan dynasty (960-1368); 11.2cm diam. Sold for US$7,680. © Bonhams 2001-2025

Molded to imitate wood planks forming a well and secured by a single bowstring band on the exterior, four gold lacquer kintsugi patches along the mouth rim, covered inside and out in an attractive sea-green glaze saved for an unglazed ring at the indented base showing the light gray body fired to orange-brown.

Provenance: Capital Gallery, Hong Kong, 2006

Note: For a similar example, see J. J. Lally & Co. 2013 special exhibition, Song Dynasty Ceramics: The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection, no. 9; and another example from The Metropolitan Museum of Art, with an incised lotus to the interior, illustrated on the museum's website, accession no. 16.156.2.

Kintsugi, also known as kintsukuroi (金繕, "golden repair"), is a Japanese technique of repairing broken pottery by fusing the areas of breakage with urushi lacquer dusted or mixed with powdered gold, silver, or platinum. Kintsugi not only adds beauty to ancient ceramics, as a philosophy it values breakage and repair as an integral part of the object's history.

Lot 16. A carved Dingyao 'peony' dish, Song dynasty (960-1279); 20.1cm diam. Sold for US$6,144. © Bonhams 2001-2025

The interior decorated with a single stalk of leafy peony blossom, the gently rounded sides rising from a short ring foot, a translucent ivory-tone glaze covered inside and out except for the mouth rim.

Note: Carved Dingyao dishes of this shape are quite rare. Compare a dish of the same form and decorated with carved 'lotus' pattern, in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated on the museum's website (coll. no. 中瓷005538N). Two other dishes of this type decorated with 'lotus' pattern were sold at auction sales, one at Sotheby's London, 13 May 2015, lot 268; one at Christie's New York, 28 March 2024, lot 152.

Lot 17. A Dingyao flat rim dish, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 18.6cm diam. Sold for US$19,200. © Bonhams 2001-2025

The shallow rounded sides rising to a flat everted rim, the slightly indented base well-pared, covered inside and out a translucent ivory color glaze, the unglazed rim with traces of gilding.

Provenance: From a collector in Brazil, purchased in China before 1950
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2003, no. 2532

Lot 17. A rare and important large Jun foliate rim bracket-lobed bowl, Jin dynasty (1115-1234); 23.9cm across; 0.9cm high; 8.6cm across foot (fitted box). Sold for US$191,000. © Bonhams 2001-2025

The deep bowl under a pale creamy-blue-glaze that variously pools and thins to the interior and exterior lobes highlighting the lightly ribbed form and further thinning to a pale-olive color below the rim, the stoneware bowl supported on a tall slightly spreading foot that is partially glazed above the biscuit foot rim, the sloping interior foot rim and base with areas of pooling glaze and orange-brown-fired unglazed patches.

Provenance: Dr. and Mrs. Alex Yip, Hong Kong
Eskenazi Ltd., London

Exhibited: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Alchemy in Blue, Ancient Jun Ware from the Yip Collection, Hong Kong, 2008
Eskenazi Ltd., Junyao, London, 31 October-22 November 2013

Published: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Alchemy in Blue, Ancient Jun Ware from the Yip Collection, Hong Kong, 2008, no. 5
Eskenazi Ltd., Junyao, London, 2013, pp. 70-73, no. 11

Note: This stunning bowl is one of only five published examples of this size. The charm of early Jun ware was represented in its simple form, refined clay body, and a creamy blue glaze of various shades. It was praised by Ming dynasty connoisseurs as one of the 'Five Classic Song Wares'. Production took place in ancient Junzhou, present day Yuzhou in Henan province beginning in the Northern Song dynasty and flourished in the Jin and Yuan dynasties. An array of elegant vessels was made, but the current bowl stands alone as a masterpiece of Junzhou production during this seminal period.

See a closely related bowl in the collection of the Palace Museum, Taipei, illustrated by Yu Peijin, A Panorama of Ceramics in the Collection of the National Palace Museum: Chün Ware, Taipei, 1999, pp. 168-169, no. 66, of slightly smaller size and in a 'powder blue' (fenqing, 粉青) glaze, together with another Jun bowl of this form in bluish-green (tianqing, 天青) crackled glaze, op. cit., pp. 169-170, no. 67. The museum's 'powder blue' Jun bowl was included in the 1935-1936 International Exhibition of Chinese Art; see Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Government Exhibits for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, Volume II: Porcelain, p. 36, no. 5, described as Song dynasty. Recent studies on archaeology finds have slightly revised the dating attribution of Jun ware, including finely made bowls of this type. The two Palace Museum, Taipei, Jun bowls have now been described as Yuan dynasty by noting a closely related bracket-lobed dish excavated in 1958 from the tomb of Feng Daozhen (buried on the 2nd year of Zhiyuan, 1265) in Datong, Shanxi province.

Another very similar Jun bowl in the collection of the Henan Museum, unearthed in 1978 from a cache in Shigu, Changge county, is illustrated on the museum's website and described as Song dynasty with a 'moon white' (yuebai, 月白) glaze. Several Jun bowls and dishes of very high quality were found in this well-preserved cache that they were described in a 1983 excavation report as from the Northern Song dynasty, but in the recent scholarly discussions, Yang Ailing noted in 'Revisit the Dating on a few Cache Jun Wares in the Collection of the Henan Museum', Proceedings of a Symposium Held in China in 2005 on the Jun Kiln at Yuzhou, Zhengzhou, 2007, pp. 92-95, col. pl. 10-4, that the Henan Museum bracket-lobed Jun bowl should be attributed to the Jin dynasty.

Compare also the bracket-lobed Jun bowl with purple splashes over a blue glaze, from the collection of Sir Percival David and now in the British Museum, first illustrated by R. L. Hobson, A Catalogue of Chinese Pottery in the Collection of Sir Percival David, London, 1934, pl. LXVIII, and exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, International Exhibition of Chinese Art 1935-1936, London, 1935-6, no. 1076. The David Jun bowl was later published by Pierson, Illustrated Catalogue of Ru, Guan, Jun, Guangdong and Yixing Wares in the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1999, p. 45, no. 77, described as Jin dynasty and noted by the author that 'the indentations on the rim have been cut with a blade rather than moulded.'

Two closely related but less refined Jun bowls were previously sold at auctions: one in a light blue glaze from C.T. Loo sold to J.T. Tai & Co. in 1964, see Sotheby's New York, 22 March 2011, lot 134; and another from the Scheinman Collection, in a crackled green-glazed and of smaller size, see Christie's New York, 14 September 2018, lot 1297.

Bonhams. IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, New York, 15 September 2025