Large White Ware Jar, Tang Dynasty, 618 - 907 AD. China. Height: 39cm. POR © Eric Zetterquist 

A large porcelaineous stoneware jar with high shoulders tapering down to a smaller flat foot. The slightly curved neck ends in a flaring, rounded mouth-rim. The piece is covered with a translucent glaze of pale greenish tone which ends a few centimeters above the foot, revealing a dense white porcelaineous stoneware body.

Accomanied by Oxford TL test #P100w52

Provenance: Private Collection, New York-

Purchased in London 

Jizhou Conical Tea Bowl with Paper-cut Phoenix Decoration, Southern Song Dynasty, 1127 - 1279 AD, China. Diameter: 15.2 cm. POR © Eric Zetterquist

A finely potted conical tea bowl from the Jizhou Kilns in Jiangxi Province. The straight walls of the interior ascend from a tiny circular well in the bottom, and are decorated with “paper-cut” reserve decoration of two phoenix in flight and three plum blossoms, appearing blackish brown against a variegated background of buff and amber tones under a streaked rim. The exterior has a tortoiseshell decoration against a solid blackish brown and persimmon background, all ending just above knife cut shallow foot-rim beveled in from an horizontal ridge and unglazed, revealing a buff stoneware body.

For a similar example, see “Hare’s Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers” by Robert D. Mowry. Harvard University Art Museums, 1995. pl. 97. Also see “Song Ceramics from the Kwan Collection”, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1994. pl. 172 and another in Masterpieces of the Okada Museum of Art, Vol. 1, Tokyo 2013, no. 14.

Condition: Rim chip/fritting repaired.

Literature: Chugoku Meito-Ten: Chugoku toji 2000-nen no seika [Exhibition of Chinese Pottery: TwoThousand Years of Chinese Ceramics], Tokyo, 1992, no. 53.

Provenance: Yang De Tang Collection, Sotheby’s, 2015 (Sold for US$93,750.)

Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection.

 Large Qingbai Lobed Ewer and Cover, Song Dynasty 960 - 1279 AD, China. Height: 24.2 cm. POR © Eric Zetterquist 

A porcelaineous ewer with elongated melon-form body and long neck with flared mouth-rim. An elongated spout flares outward from the shoulder and a strap handle runs from the opposite shoulder to the underside of the mouth-rim. Small loops for a tie-down are attached to the apex of the handle and the edge of the lid, which fits snugly over the flared mouth.

The lid has a central knob of a stylized lotus bud form in its countersunk center. There are two bands of incised lines, one around the upper neck and one around the girth of the body. Fine vertical lines are incised between the lobes of the body.

The entire body is covered with a finely crackled pale glaze that pools to a bluish green tone.

Provenance: Private Japanese Collection

Large Dingyao Plate with Carved Lotus, Jin Dynasty 1127-1279 AD. Diameter: 24.8 cm. POR © Eric Zetterquist 

A large plate of porcelaineous stoneware with a masterfully carved depiction of a lotus flowers with foliage. The petals are delicately curled with double lines accentuating their lifelike forms. The composition fills the entire interior of the bowl, enclosed in a single circular line just under the unglazed rim. The rim has been fitted with a metal band with dark patina.

The underside of the bowl is undecorated, but bears the finger marks of the piece after it was dipped in glaze. The molded foot-rim is also glazed with two unglazed patches in the underfoot well, revealing a white clay body.

Provenance: From a private Japanese collection with fitted wooden box.

A Yaozhou Bowl with Carved Peony Design, early Song Dynasty. Diameter: 20.3 cm. POR © Eric Zetterquist 

A large molded bowl of conical form with a deftly carved center pattern of peonies and leaves with combed detailing. The exterior has carved vertical striations set below an incised horizontal line. The thickly potted foot-rim is slightly splayed and unglazed on the bottom with is encrusted with kiln-grit. The entire piece, including the under-foot well is glazed in a translucent green glaze of grass green tone, which pools in the troughs of the carving to a darker green.

The thickness of the walls and hand-carving of this piece indicate an early Song Dynasty dating.

Condition:: With scratches on the interior and two kiln specks in the center.

Provenance: From a private Japanese Collection with inscribed box.

Qingbai Bowl with Incised Dragon Decoration, Song Dynasty, 960-1279 A.D., China. Diameter: 20.8cm. POR © Eric Zetterquist 

A finely potted porcelain bowl covered in a pale blue translucent glaze that ends at the bottom of the foot, revealing a white porcelain clay body and evidence of having been fired on a cylindrical support. The interior of the bowl has incised decoration masterfully carved into the finely potted walls. Chips to the foot.

Similar examples can be seein in “Mulitplicity of Simplicity”, Hong Kong University, 2012, pl. 4 and Qingbaici Jingpin Jianshang, plates 169 and 182.

Longquan Celadon Bowl with Twin Fish Appliques, Southern Song - Yuan Dynasty, 13th - 14th century, A.D., China. Diameter: 19.5cm. POR © Eric Zetterquist

A large shallow bowl (often considered brushwashers) with flattened rim, steep cavetto and broad flattened bottom, decorated with finely molded appliques of two fish swimming around each other, a Chinese symbol of marital bliss. The outside walls carved with overlapping lotus petals. The entire piece is covered with a translucent crackled Longquan celadon glaze (some areas of surface scratching). The bottom of the foot rim is unglazed, revealing a dense stoneware body of pale gray color.

Two identical pieces can be found in “Heavenly Blue; Southern Song Celadons, Nezu Museum, 2012. pl. 42 and 43.