Lot 1018. The Property of a Hong Kong Collector. A rare large Ouyao celadon tiger-form ewer, Southern Dynasties (420-589); 25.4 cm high. Price realised HKD 381,000 (Estimate HKD 300,000 – HKD 500,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Lam & Co., Hong Kong, early 1990s

Exhibited: Li Yin Arts Co., Ltd, Ancient Chinese Sculptures, October 2000, Taipei, catalogue no. 4
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Splendor of the Past: The Spirit and Form of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, 13 February to 13 April 2014, Hong Kong

Note: It is extremely rare to find a Southern Dynasties tiger-form ewer of such magnificent size and preserved in such remarkably good condition. One comparable example is a slightly smaller Yue ewer (18.7 cm. high) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Collection (object no. 1985.207).

Lot 1012. The Property of a North American Collector. A rare large white-glazed meiping, Sui dynasty (581-618); 34 cm high. Price realised HKD 3,048,000 (Estimate HKD 600,000 – HKD 800,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Acquired in Taiwan in 2000

Note: It is extremely rare to find Sui dynasty white ware of this form and size, as this type of ware is more commonly found in cups and smaller jars.

A similarly shaped meiping is preserved at the San Francisco Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, object number B60P155. A similarly shaped jar with a wider mouth from the Sui dynasty is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing and illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Porcelain of Jin and Tang Dynasties, Hong Kong, 2016, p. 64, no.58. A closely related meiping from Tang dynasty with a more exaggerated lower body and smaller lipped mouth, is preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing collection number xin-00136908.

Compare to a similar Sui dynasty white-glazed meiping, sold at Tokyo Chuo Auction, 10 September 2022, lot 481. Compare also to a Sui dynasty white-glazed jar and cover with a taller and more slender body, formerly with J. J. Lally & Co., sold at Bonhams New York, 20 March 2023, lot 10. Compare to another almost identical meiping sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 30 May 2024, lot 2848.

Lot 1018. A large high-fired white-glazed cup, Sui Dynasty (581-618); 12.2 cm diam. Price realised HKD 2,413,000 (Estimate HKD 1,000,000 – HKD 1,500,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Acquired in Hong Kong, 1999

Note: The present cup is a rare example of the fine high-fired white wares produced during the Sui dynasty, which are characterised by their fine clay body and thin, crackled translucent glaze. Related cups are known, but are usually of smaller sizes, such as an example (8.8 cm. diam.) in the Xi’an Institute of Cultural Relics Preservation, illustrated in Complete Collection of Ceramic Art Unearthed in China, vo. 15, Shaanxi, Beijing, 2008, p. 14, no. 14. For other similar cups of this larger size group, compare one (12.1 cm. diam.) sold at Sotheby’s New York, 21 September 2022, lot 321; and another from the Annenberg Jaffe Hall Collection (12.2 cm. diam.), sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2023, lot 1001 (fig. 1).

fig. 1 A large glazed white ware cup, Sui-early Tang dynasty, 6th-7th century. Sold for USD 100,800 at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2023, lot 1001 © Christie's Images Ltd 2023

Lot 1009. The Property of a North American Collector. A magnificent and extremely rare Ding carved 'peony' vase, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 25 cm high. Price realised HKD 22,460,000 (Estimate HKD 18,000,000 – HKD 25,000,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow (1881-1968 and 1885-1989)
Sold at Christie’s London, 8 December 1986, lot 227
The Muwen Tang Collection
Sold at Sotheby’s London, 12 November 2003, lot 8
Eskenazi Ltd., London
Xiwenguo Zhai Collection
Sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 5 April 2017, lot 3218

Literature: Michael Sullivan, Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades in the Collection of Sir Alan and Lady Barlow, London, 1963, pl. 41, no. C178
Jan Wirgin, ‘Sung Ceramic Designs’, Bulletin of the Museum of Far Eastern Antiquities, no. 42, 1970, pl. 61c
W.B.R. Neave-Hill, Chinese Ceramics, Edinburgh and London, 1975, pl. 60
Basil Gray, Sung Porcelain and Stoneware, London, 1984, pl. 48

Exhibited: Song Dynasty Wares: Ting, Ying Ch'ing and Tz'u Chou, The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1949, cat. no. 13
Chinese Ceramics from Sir Alan Barlow's Collection, Arts Council, London, 1953, no. 42
The Arts of the Sung Dynasty, Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1960, cat. no. 27, pl. 15
A Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramic Art, Oriental Ceramic Society, Quantas Gallery, London, 1966, cat. no. 23
The Ceramic Art of China, Arts Council of Great Britain and The Oriental Ceramic Society, London, 1971, fully illustrated catalogue in Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 38, 1969-71, pl. 43, cat. no. 68
Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1990-91, cat. no. 87
Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 10
The Grandeur of Chinese Art Treasures, Min Chiu Society Golden Jubilee Exhibition, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 2010-11, cat. no. 97

*Breath and Soul – An Exceptionally Rare Song Dynasty
Ding Vase
Rosemary Scott, Independent Scholar
 

The current vase is not only exquisite and exceptionally rare, but was also formerly included in several important Chinese ceramic collections in both Britain and Hong Kong. For several decades of the 20th century it was in England in the famous collection of Sir Alan (1881-1968) (fig. 1) and Lady (1885-1989) Barlow, while in late 20th and early 21st centuries it was in important Hong Kong collections - the Muwen Tang collection from 1986 to 2003, and the Xiwenguo Zhai collection from 2003 to 2017.
 

fig. 1 Sir Alan Noel Barlow, circa June 1938 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Sir Alan Barlow was one of the great European collectors of Chinese ceramics of the early to mid-20th century, and loaned 22 pieces from his collection to the prestigious 1935-6 International Exhibition of Chinese Art held at the Royal Academy in London. Having been born in 1881, he first began collecting Ottoman ceramics around 1900, but from the 1920s he started to collect Chinese ceramics, developing a special appreciation of Song dynasty wares. He joined the Oriental Ceramic Society in 1932, became a member of its Council in 1933, and served as its President from 1943-61. In 1911, he married Nora Darwin – granddaughter of the famous naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin, author of On the Origin of Species. She shared his interest in art, and their many generous loans to exhibitions were usually credited to: ‘Sir Alan and Lady Barlow’. Sir Alan and Lady Barlow made a number of generous gifts to major museums, including the British Museum; the Victoria and Albert Museum; the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, and the Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, University of London. After Sir Alan’s death, in 1968, items from his Chinese collection were loaned to the Gulbenkian Museum of Oriental Art, University of Durham, and in 1974 transferred to the University of Sussex. In 2012 they moved to the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford. A small number of items, including this vase, remained in the family. His Islamic ceramics were donated to the Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford.
 

In Chinese ceramics, Sir Alan greatly preferred the fine handmade ceramics of the early period – particularly Song - rather than those ‘machine-made’ in later times. In his fascinating 1937 lecture ‘The Collector and the Expert’ to the Oriental Ceramic Society, London, he noted: ‘The craftsman has impressed his personality on the lifeless clay. It almost ceases to be inanimate; it has a breath and soul of its own; it is individual, unique; its very imperfections add to its allure.’
 

The vast majority of extant Ding wares are open wares, and closed forms, such as vases, are rare. The current vase form with its elegant high foot, spherical body, long narrow neck and flattened mouth is especially rare. The only other published Song dynasty Ding ware vase of the same shape as the current vase, although slightly smaller at 22 cm. high, is from the Qing court collection, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing (illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (1), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 41, no. 35) (fig. 2). The Beijing vase is decorated in similar technique to that on the current vase, but includes chi dragons. On the base are carved three characters shang shi ju, linking the vessel to one of the six bureaux of the inner palace concerned with food and
drink. This indicates that vessels of this type were used as bottles – probably for wine - rather than to contain flowers.

fig. 2 Collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing

A Song dynasty Ding ware vase with the same height of 25 cm as the current vase, which has a mallet-shaped body, rather than the spherical shape of the current vase and the Beijing example, is in the collection of Sir Percival David (illustrated by S. Pierson and S. McCausland in Song Ceramics – Objects of Admiration, London, 2003, pp. 20-1, no. 1). The mouth of this vase, which originally was of flattened form, was broken, ground-down, and covered with a metal band before it entered Sir Percival’s collection, but it is clear that the mouth was originally similar to that of the current vase. The design on the Percival David vase has also been carved and incised in a similar style to that on the Barlow vase.
 

The form of the current vase evokes parallels with certain rare Northern Song Ru ware vases. On the one hand the Barlow Ding vase’s spherical body resting on a high, splayed foot is reminiscent of a Ru ware vase found at Qingliangsi and included in the National Palace Museum’s exhibition Grand View Special Exhibition of Ju Ware from the Northern Sung Dynasty, Taipei, 2006, pp. 66-7, exhibit 11. This Qingliangsi Ru vase has a slender columnar neck, but has a flared mouth rim, similar to that seen on a Ding ware vase from the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei – illustrated in the same catalogue, p. 70, top left (fig. 3). These slender, columnar necked vases would have been difficult to make with flared mouth rims, but those with flattened mouth rims have been even more challenging given the applied downward pressure necessary to achieve them. It is unsurprising that so few have survived.
 

fig. 3 Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

A small number of mallet-shaped Ru ware vases with flattened mouth rims are known, including two with broken mouths in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (see Grand View Special Exhibition of Ju Ware from the Northern Sung Dynasty, op. cit., pp. 116-20, nos. 24 and 25). However, a Ru mallet vase, which has retained its flattened mouth, was found at the Qingliangsi site (see ibid., pp. 114-5, no. 23). Fragments of flattened rims on columnar necks found at the site of the Ru kilns at Qingliangsi in Henan have also been published by Ye Zhemin and Ye Peilan in Ruyao juzhen (Collection of Porcelain Treasures of the Ru Kiln), Beijing, 2001, pp. 158-9. Pls. 1-2. Southern Song imperial Guan ware mallet-shaped vases with flattened mouths were also excavated at the Laohudong kiln site between 1996 and 2002 (see Southern Song Xiuneisi Guan Ware Archaeological Findings from the Kiln Site at Laohudong, Hangzhou, Osaka, 2010, pp. 70-1, no. 6; and Du Zhengxian (ed.), Hangzhou Laohudong yaozhi qi jingxuan, Beijing, 2002, pp. 53-9, nos. 28-32).
 

It is significant that neither the Percival David Ding ware mallet-shaped vase, or the Taipei and Qingliangsi Ru ware mallet-shaped vases, or indeed the Laohudong vase stands on a high, flared foot, but rest on flat bases or very low feet. This would have been an advantage when forming the vessels. Flattened mouths do appear on rare Southern Song celadon vases made at the Longquan kilns – for example the pair of octagonal vases from the Barlow Collection (illustrated by Craig Clunas in The Barlow Collection of Chinese Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades: an Introduction, University of Sussex, 1997, p. 43, no. 38). These Longquan vases do have relatively high feet, but their facetted shape would have provided added stability during manufacture.

It is worth noting that comparisons between Ding, Ru and Guan wares are germane, since, like Ru ware, Ding ware was greatly favoured by the Northern Song court, while Guan ware was made for the Southern Song court. It is significant that, according to the 52nd entry of the ‘Food and Commodities’ section in juan 146 of the Song huiyao jigao (Collected Statutes of the Song Dynasty), Ding wares were amongst the prized items stored in the Imperial warehouse for porcelain and lacquer wares established
at the Northern Song capital at Kaifeng in Jianlong Square, and assiduously guarded by court eunuchs working in three shifts. The difficulties involved in throwing ceramics with wide, flattened mouths, raises the question of where the notion of having such a form might have derived. Some scholars have suggested the influence of metal work, but glass from west of China’s borders provides a more likely inspiration. This view is supported by the fact that according to the Song dynasty scholar Hong Mai (1123-1202), in his Yijian zhi, the Northern Song Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-26 CE) himself amassed a collection of western glass. It has been clearly established that glass from the Middle East reached China via the ‘Silk Routes’ even earlier, and western glass has been found in a number of Han, Sui and Tang dynasty tombs and Buddhist sites in China, indicating that it was already highly prized in those periods.
 

Glass vessels with sharp shoulders and almost cylindrical bodies combined with flattened mouths and columnar necks were made in the Iranian region – especially around Nishapur - in the 9th and 10th centuries. Vessels of this type certainly made their way east and while broken vessels of this form were found amongst the cargo of the 10th century so-called ‘Intan’ wreck excavated in 1997 from the Java Sea, an almost complete glass vessel of this type was found in the Inner Mongolian tomb of the Princess Chen dated to 1018 CE. However, even more significant to the current discussion are the glass vases made with flattened mouths, columnar necks, and spherical bodies, which were manufactured in the Iranian region in the 8th-10th century CE. Several such vessels are illustrated by Stefano Carboni in Glass from Islamic Lands, London, 2001, pp. 32-5, cats. 9a-9d, and 110, cat. 2.6a. It is also interesting to note that included in the 2022 Hong Kong exhibition Technological advances along the Silk Road Blown and Tooled: Western Asian Influences in Ancient Glass in China, was a mould-blown glass vessel with spherical body and flattened mouth, which was catalogued as “Roman Empire (3rd–4th century CE) or China (Tang dynasty (618–906) or Liao dynasty (907–1125))” (see https://www.hku.hk/press/press-releases/detail/24995.html; HKU.M.2019.2471) (fig. 4).

fig. 4 University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong,
HKU.M.2019.2471

Lot 1010. The Property of a North American Collector. A Ding white-glazed melon-form ewer, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 21 cm high. Price realised HKD 1,905,000 (Estimate HKD 1,500,000 – HKD 2,500,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Acquired in Japan in 2018

Note: The present ewer with a dragon head-shaped spout and melon-form body is a fine example of Ding porcelains and appears to be unique. A Ding ewer of very similar form and decorative technique, but with a more globular body and flared neck is in the National Palace Museum, Taipei and illustrated in Decorated Porcelains of Dingzhou, White Ding wares from the collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei, 2014, p. 44, nos. II-1.  (fig. 1)

fig.1 A Ding ewer, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), Collection of the National Palace Museum, Taipei

Lot 1011. The Property of a North American Collector. A very rare carved Yaozhou petal-rim jar, Northern Song dynasty, 11th century; 11.8 cm high, Japanese wood box. Price realised HKD 5,080,000 (Estimate HKD 2,800,000 – HKD 3,500,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Mayuyama and Co., Ltd., Tokyo
Sold at Christie's Hong Kong, The Classic Age of Chinese Ceramics - The Linyushanren Collection, Part I, 2 December 2015, lot 2803

Literature: Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (eds), The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Tokyo, 1997, p.30, p.32
Christie's, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 2012, pp. 58-59, no. 15

Exhibited: Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Yamaguchi, 25 October to 21 December 1997; Osaka, 10 January to 22 February 1998; Aichi, 4 April to 10 May 1998, Catalogue, no.32
Christie's, The Classical Age of Chinese Ceramics: An Exhibition of Song Treasures from the Linyushanren Collection, Hong Kong, 22 to 27 November 2012; New York, 15 to 20 March 2013; London, 10 to 14 May 2013, Catalogue, no.15

Note: This distinctive Yaozhou vessel is an especially elegant version of a form that in China is usually called a zun. At the Yaozhou kilns it is possible that the form has a predecessor in a similar type of jar, but without an everted rim, that has been found among the Five Dynasties vessels at the Huangbao zhen kiln site. See Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka (eds), The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, Tokyo, 1997, p. 101, no. 133. Another form similar to the current example, and with the same type of decoration, but without curled rim sections, was also made at the Yaozhou kilns. For an example in the Yale University Art Gallery see Y. Mino and K. Tsiang, Ice and Green Clouds, Indianapolis Museum of Art, 1986, pp. 144-5, no. 54. Several jars similar to the current example, with raised lines inside the mouth, curled lip, and carved decoration, have been found in the late Northern Song strata at the Yaozhou kiln at Huangbao zhen. See Shaanxi Tongchuan Yaozhou yao, Beijing, 1965, pl. 19, no. 3; and Shaanxi Provincial Archaeological Research Institute and Museum of Yaozhou Ware, Songdai Yaozhou Yaozhi, Beijing, 1998, p. 589. A very similar Yaozhou celadon jar but without the pierced ruyi head design on the foot is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum. See S. Valenstein, Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, rev. ed. 1989, p. 82, no. 76. A similar Yaozhou jar in the collection of the Buffalo Museum of Science is illustrated by N. Wood, Chinese Glazes, London, 1999, p. 117, left hand illustration. And another similar jar with somewhat sketchy carved floral motifs on both body and neck is in the collection of the Museum of Yaozhou Ware, Tongchuan city, Shaanxi province. See The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, op. cit., p. 107, no. 145. Compare also a related vessel of compressed form from Robert E. Barron, III, M.D. collection, discussed and illustrated by Lisa Rotondo-McCord, Heaven and earth seen within: Song ceramics from the Robert Barron Collection, New Orleans, 2003, pp. 50-51, no. 10 and subsequently sold at Christie’s New York, 30 Mar 2005, lot 272.

Lot 1026. A very rare Cizhou black and white sgraffito vase, Northern Song dynasty (960-1279); 22.5 cm high, Japanese wood box. Price realised HKD 381,000 (Estimate HKD 300,000 – HKD 500,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: K.Y. Fine Arts, Hong Kong
Priestley & Ferraro, London, 2017
 

Literature: Priestley and Ferraro, Song Ceramics and Works of Art, London, Autumn 2017, no. 13 (cover)
 

Note: It is very rare to find a vase of this type decorated with flowers on the sides of the neck as well as on the body. A comparable vase, similar in form but lacking the extra flowers on the neck, was sold at Christie’s New York, Collected in America: Chinese Ceramics from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15 September 2016, lot 806 (fig. 1).

fig. 1 A rare Cizhou-type carved vase, Christie’s New York, Northern Song dynasty, late 11th-12th century. Sold for USD 197,000 at Christie's Collected in America: Chinese Ceramics from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, 15 September 2016, lot 806. © Christie's Images Ltd 2016

Lot 1007. The Property of a North American Collector. A carved Cizhou white-glazed 'lotus' washer, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234); 14 cm. Price realised HKD 508,000 (Estimate HKD 50,000 – HKD 80,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Provenance: Acquired in Taiwan in 2000

Lot 1008. The Property of a North American Collector. A crisply moulded Yaozhou celadon ‘fish and waves' conical bowl, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234); 11 cm dial. Japanese wood box. Price realised HKD 139,700 (Estimate HKD 60,000 – HKD 80,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Kochukyo, Tokyo

Lot 1016. The Property of a North American Collector. A small painted Cizhou truncated meiping, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234); 13 cm high, Japanese wood box. Price realised HKD 736,600 (Estimate HKD 220,000 – HKD 280,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: A Japanese private collection, acquired in Japan in the early 2000's

Lot 1024. A sky-blue glazed Jun bowl, Northern Song-Jin dynasty (960-1234); 12.2 cm diam. Price realised HKD 635,000 (Estimate HKD 500,000 – HKD 800,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025

Lot 1013. The Property of a North American Collector. A Jizhou paper-cut resist-decorated 'phoenix and prunus' tea bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 15.2 cm diam. Price realised HKD 508,000 (Estimate HKD 260,000 – HKD 320,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: The Muwen Tang Collection, Hong Kong
Sold at Sotheby’s London, 12 November 2003, lot 66
Eskenazi, Ltd., London
Ten-views Lingbi Rock Retreat Collection, North America, no. EK198
Sold at Poly Beijing, 4 December 2019, lot 5805

Exhibited: Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection, Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong, 1994, cat. no. 172

Note: A Jizhou paper-cut decorated tea bowl of this form decorated with the same design in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing is illustrated in Porcelain of the Song Dynasty (II), The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum – 33, Hong Kong, 1996, p. 239, no. 219.

Lot 1014. The Property of a North American Collector. A rare Jizhou ‘deer spot and tortoise shell’-glazed tea bowl, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 11.2 cm diam. Price realised HKD 609,600 (Estimate HKD 200,000 – HKD 300,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection
J.J. Lally & Co., New York
Ten-views Lingbi Rock Retreat Collection, North America

Exhibited: J.J. Lally & Co., Song Dynasty Ceramics: The Ronald W. Longsdorf Collection, 15 March – 13 April 2013, no.30

Note: Compare to a closely related tea bowl of similar form and pattern illustrated by J. Ayers, The Baur Collection: Chinese Ceramics, Vol. I, Geneva, 1968, no. A71. Compare to another similar Jizhou tea bowl published in Illustrated Catalogues of Tokyo National Museum: Chinese Ceramics I, Tokyo, 1988, p.165, no.662.

Lot 1027. Property from a Japanese Private Collection. A Longquan celadon washer, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 13.2 cm diam. Price realised HKD 254,000 (Estimate HKD 200,000 – HKD 400,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Mayuyama & Co.,Ltd., Tokyo, by repute

Lot 1028. Property from a Japanese Private Collection. A rare Longquan celadon 'bamboo' cylindrical washer, Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279); 12.9 cm diam., Japanese wood box. Price realised HKD 889,000 (Estimate HKD 500,000 – HKD 700,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: Baron Konoike Collection, Osaka
Osaka Bijutsu Club, 12 June 1940
 

Literature: Catalogue of the Exhibition of the Shointei Collection, Osaka, 1940, no. 186
 

Note: The present lot is accompanied by an exhibition label from the Nezu Museum, Tokyo

Lot 1017. The Property of a North American Collector. A moulded Ding white-glazed 'deer' dish, Jin dynasty (1115-1234); 22.3 cm diam. Price realised HKD 736,600 (Estimate HKD 220,000 – HKD 280,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2025
 

Provenance: John Sparks Ltd., London
Sold at Sotheby’s London, 11 December 1984, lot 158
Gerald Greenwald Collection, no. 30
Sold at Christie’s New York, 24 March 2011, lot 1316

Literature: Gerald M. Greenwald, The Greenwald Collection, Two Thousand Years of Chinese Ceramics, 1996, no. 30

Note: The dish crisply moulded with two spotted stags leaping amidst pomegranate scroll, one with a leaf stem in its mouth, below a band of lotus meander reserved on a stippled ground.

A Ding dish of this pattern from the Eumorfopoulos Collection is illustrated by J. Ayers, Far Eastern Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1980, pl. 22. Another dish of the same pattern in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is illustrated by S. Valenstein, A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics, New York, 1975, pl. 51.

Christie's. Important Chinese and Asian Works of Art, Hong Kong, 30 October 2025