Lot 333. Property from the Lee Pak Kwai Collection. A small Ding incised 'lotus leaf' conical bowl, Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127); 13.3 cm diam. (2). Estimate HK$260,000 - HK$350,000 (29 000 € - 39 000 €). Sold for HK$448,000. © Bonhams

Finely potted in conical form, gracefully flaring from a short, narrow foot ring, the interior fluently combed with double-line swirls radiating from the centre, reminisent of the veining of a stylised lotus leaf, the exterior left undecorated, covered overall with a warm ivory-white glaze, save for the mouth rim and part of the base, fitted box.

Provenance: Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1997
A Japanese private collection
Christie's Hong Kong, 28 November 2012, lot 2272

Note: The present lot belongs to a type of conical-shaped tea bowls that resembles the bamboo hats, douli, and is therefore known as douli wan. They were widely favoured during the Song dynasty and extensively used in tea competitions, doucha, due to the bowl's flat, inclined sides which prevent tea dregs from adhering during the whisking process.

Bowls decorated with similar motifs, Song dynasty, are in the Palace Museum, Taipei, accession nos. guci 011384, guci 011385, guci 011386, guci 011387. See also a very similar example in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum: Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (I), Hong Kong, 1996, pl. 50. Another comparable example with a metal-bound rim, Northern Song dynasty, was in the Sir Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, now in the British Museum, accession no. PDF.113.

Compare a Northern Song example with a metal-bound rim which was previously in the Lord Cunliffe Collection, and included in the Exhibition of Sung Dynasty Wares, The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 9 November - 17 December 1949, cat. no. 136; and later sold at Christie's London, 11 May 2010, lot 254.

Lot 335. Property from the Lee Pak Kwai Collection. An extremely rare set of Jun purple-splashed bubble bowl and matching stand, Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127); cup stand 11 cm diam., cup 7.7 cm diam. (3). Estimate HK$800,000 - HK$1,200,000 (88 000 € - 130 000 €). Unsold.© Bonhams
 

The cup deftly potted with deep rounded sides rising from a short foot, the cupstand well potted in the form of a small cup rising from a circular flange with gently flared sides raised on a circular foot, both covered in a pale sky-blue glaze liberally splashed with appealing pale purple splashes, fitted box.

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 11 May 2011, lot 40

Note: Sets of bowls and matching stands are extremely rare. This charmingly potted bubble bowl, along with its matching stand, is elegantly decorated in a light sky blue glaze liberally splashed with lilac purple. This suggests that they were made and fired as a set intended for use together.

A comparable set of Jun vessel and stand of this form and size, but without purple splashes, from the Zetterquist Galleries, New York, and entered the Meiyintang Collection, is illustrated by Regina Krahl, Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 3 (II), London, 2006, p. 458, no. 1458. Another Jun set is included in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1994, pp. 118-119, no. 41. A slightly smaller set, also without purple splashes, from the Water, Pine and Stone Retreat Collection, was included in Gerard Tsang and Hugh Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Fung Ping Shan Museum, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 1986, pp. 260-61, no. 257; and again in The Gordon Collection: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, J.J. Lally, New York, 2009, no. 31. A further blue-glazed Jun vessel and pentafoliate stand, attributed to the Northern Song to the Jin dynasty, from the Percival David Foundation, is in the British Museum collection (accession nos. PDF.46 and PDF,A.50).

Similar to many early high-fired glazes, the composition of Jun glaze includes iron oxide as a colourant. However, studies indicate that the distinctive opalescent sky-blue hue of Jun ware is primarily due to a light-scattering optical phenomenon. The elevated levels of silica – predominantly found in glass – compared to alumina in Jun glazes appear to facilitate the formation of tiny glass micro-globules during the firing process. These droplets, which are smaller than the wavelength of blue light, remain suspended in the thicker glaze once it cools. As light passes through, it reflects blue light, resulting in the characteristic sky-blue colouration associated with the classical Jun wares.

The purple splashes seen in Jun wares are attributed to copper. Copper pigments in a water-based solution were applied to the dried but unfired glaze. After firing, the blend of copper red and blue creates areas of purple or crimson. While artisans can influence the quantity and location of the splashes, they cannot completely control the outcome. As a result, each purple-splashed Jun piece is, to some extent, a product of chance, making it a unique piece of art.

Lot 331. Property from the Lee Pak Kwai Collection. An unusual Qingbai-glazed lobed ewer and cover, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 19.8 cm high (3). Estimate HK$160,000 - HK$220,000 (18 000 € - 24 000 €). Sold for HK$320,000. © Bonhams

The lobed body raised on a spreading foot, rising to a wide flaring trumpet neck, with an incised band below the shoulder and incised leaf patterns on the base of the long curved spout and strap handle, covered overall in a translucent pale blue glaze, the concave cover with a bud knop and similarly glazed, fitted box.

Provenance: The Feng Wen Tang Collection, Hong Kong
Bonhams Hong Kong, 9 October 2014, lot 212

Note: Ewers of this elegant form were used to serve wine as well as tea in the Song dynasty, as illustrated in various contemporaneous paintings. The renowned Song dynasty album leaf, depicting a scholar sitting next to his own portrait, preserved in the Palace Museum, Taipei, features an attendant serving wine from a similar white ewer, accession no. guhua 001261. Another scroll Nine Elders of Huichang in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, on the other hand, details two similar ewers being warmed for diancha, or tea whisking, see Yang Zhishui, Vases of the Song Dynasty, Hong Kong, 2014, p. 124, fig. 4.45:1.

Several similar Qingbai lobed ewers include one in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, illustrated by Rose Kerr, Song Dynasty Ceramics, London, 2004, no. 97; another in the Hong Kong Museum of Art illustrated in Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong, 1994, no. 118; and another in the British Museum, London, illustrated in Qingbai Ware: Chinese Porcelain of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, London, 2002, no. 61.

Lot 334. Property from the Lee Pak Kwai Collection. A Longquan celadon-glazed 'dragon' dish, Southern Song-Yuan Dynasty (1127-1368); 34 cm diam. Estimate HK$220,000 - HK$350,000 (24 000 € - 38 000 €). Unsold. © Bonhams
 

Sturdily potted with rounded sides rising to an everted rim, the centre of the well moulded with a writhing scaly dragon chasing a flaming pearl, all within a band of incised scrolling leaves, the exterior carved with a band of lotus petals radiating from the foot, covered overall in a soft olive-green glaze save for an orange firing ring at the base, box.

Provenance: Collection of the Tsui Museum of Art, Hong Kong, no. SL043
Christie's Hong Kong, 30 November 2011, lot 3020

Note: See a closely related Longquan dish applied with an almost identical dragon chasing a 'flaming pearl', Yuan dynasty, in the British Museum, illustrated in Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections, vol. 5, Tokyo, 1981, pl. 132. Another example with a similar 'dragon and flaming pearl' design, late 13th or early 14th century, is illustrated in Chinese Ceramics in the Topkapi Saray Museum, Istanbul: A Complete Catalogue, vol. I, London, 1986, p. 256, pl. 61.

Compare another Yuan example, decorated with a writhing dragon pursuing a flaming pearl, illustrated in Chinese Antiquities from the Wou Kiuan Collection: Wou Lien-Pai Museum, Hong Kong, 2011, pl. 106; later sold at Sotheby's London, 1 November 2022, lot 131; another similar example, applied with a coiling dragon at the centre, previously in the collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, later sold at Sotheby's London, 4 November 2021, lot 336.