Chinese Ceramics sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 2025

4 octobre 2025

Chinese Ceramics sold at Christie's New York, 19 September 2025

Lot 1001. Property from the Shorenstein Collection, San Francisco. A rare and unusually large green-glazed pottery cylindrical tripod 'hill' censer, Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220); 29.5 cm. diam. Price realised USD 50,800 (Estimate USD 6,000 – USD 8,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

The base of the censer is incised with a large illegible inscription.

Provenance: Priestley & Ferraro Fine Chinese Art, London, 1996, and thence by descent within the family.

Note: It is very rare to find a Han-dynasty censer of this type with such elaborate decoration of mythical beasts and immortals, and of such large size, with most examples measuring between 6-7 ins. in diameter. Such Han-dynasty pottery versions were based on contemporary bronze prototypes, such as one in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, illustrated by M. Wang in A Bronze Menagerie: Mat Weights of Early China, Boston, 2006, p. 70, fig. 10.

Another large example, also molded on the sides with mythical creatures and immortals and with bear-form feet, was sold at Christie’s New York, 27 March 2018, lot 21.

Lot 1002. Property from the Shorenstein Collection, San Francisco. A large amber-glazed red pottery figure of a recumbent dog, Han dynasty (206 BC-AD 220); 45 cm. high. Price realised USD 13,970 (Estimate USD 5,000 – USD 7,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: Christie's New York, 2 June 1994, lot 234, and thence by descent within the family.

Note: Related glazed pottery recumbent dogs include the example illustrated in the catalogue for the Exhibition of Treasures from the Shanghai Museum: 6,000 Years of Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 1983, no. 53; one in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco included in the exhibition, Gems of Chinese Art, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1983, no. 7; and a third in the Exhibition of Chinese Art from the Ferris Luboshez Collection, University of Maryland Art Gallery, 1972, no. 50, illustrated p.16, fig.4.

Lot 1003. The P.A.B. Collection. A blue-glazed ovoid pottery ewer, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907); 13 cm. high. Price realised USD 40,640 (Estimate USD 10,000 – USD 20,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: Johannes Hellner (1866-1947) Collection, Stockholm.
Anthony Derham (1944-2000) Collection, New York.
Christie's New York, 27 November 1991, lot 308.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2011.

Lot 1004. The P.A.B. Collection. A rare blue-splashed straw-glazed pottery kundika, Tang dynasty (AD 618-907); 25 cm. high. Price realised USD 60,960 (Estimate USD 7,000 – USD 9,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: Jan van Beers Oriental Art, London, 2008.

Note: The result of Oxford Authentication Ltd. thermoluminescence test no. C102z85 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

Lot 1005. The P.A.B. Collection. A Baishe conical 'moon and prunus' tea bowl, Song dynasty (AD 960-1279); 10.3 cm diam., cloth box. Price realised USD 71,120 (Estimate USD 10,000 – USD 15,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2013.

Literature: J. J. Lally & Co., Song Dynasty Ceramics, The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection, New York, 2013, no. 26.

Exhibited: New York, J. J. Lally & Co., Song Dynasty Ceramics, The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection, 15 March - 13 April 2013.

Note: A bowl of the same form and design is illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, p. 278, no. 515, where it is noted that similar wares with a light blue qingbai glaze applied over a slip have been excavated at the Baishe kilns in Nanfeng county, Jiangxi province. A similar small conical bowl excavated at Baishe is illustrated in Kaogu, 1985, No. 3, pl. 6: 1 & 2, and in a line drawing on p. 226, fig. 4:1. Another very similar Baishe ‘moon and prunus’ tea bowl from the Turner Collection, now in the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, North Carolina, is illustrated in Eye to the East: The Turner Collection of Chinese Art, Columbia, 2008, p. 64. A closely related example was sold at J. J. Lally & Co.; Christie's New York, 23 March 2023, lot 877.

This motif is also found on white stoneware boxes and covers made at the nearby Jizhou kilns, such as the example illustrated by R. Krahl in Chinese Ceramics from the Meiyintang Collection, vol. 1, London, 1994, p. 279, no. 517, and another from the Falk Collection, sold at Christie's New York, 16 October 2001, lot 96.

Lot 1006. The P.A.B. Collection. A Jizhou paper-cut resist-decorated tea bowl, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279); 10.5 cm diam., cloth box. Price realised USD 7,620 (Estimate USD 4,000 – USD 6,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: Jan van Beers Oriental Art, London, 2008.

Lot 1007. The P.A.B. Collection. A Jian hare's fur-glazed tea bowl, Song dynasty (960-1279); 10.5 cm diam., cloth box. Price realised USD 8,255 (Estimate USD 6,000 – USD 8,000). © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: Dr. and Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon Collection, San Francisco.
J. J. Lally & Co., New York, 2009.

Literature: J. J. Lally & Co., Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art: The Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon, New York, 2009, no. 56.

Exhibited: New York, J. J. Lally & Co., Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art: The Collection of Dr. & Mrs. Marvin L. Gordon, 12 March-4 April 2009.