Lot 94. A pair of straw-glazed pottery camels, Tang Dynasty; 42.8cm high (2). Sold for US$8,320 © Bonhams 2026

Modelled standing foursquare on a rectangular base, the long neck gracefully arched, and the head turned slightly to one side, the mouth closed beneath prominent nostrils and alert eyes, naturalistically rendered with a thickly textured mane extending from the crown along the neck and chest, with similarly textured hair around the upper legs and the two characteristic humps, the body covered in a pale cream-colored glaze, the saddle cloth delineated by incised and moulded lines.

Provenance: Bluett and Sons Ltd., London

Private Collection, acquired prior to 1997, and thence by descent

Sotheby's New York, 18-28 June 2024, lot 65.

Note : The Tang dynasty marked one of the most cosmopolitan periods in Chinese history, when the empire embraced and absorbed artistic and cultural influences from beyond its borders. The flourishing trade along the Silk Road introduced new ideas, materials, and artistic traditions, fostering an unprecedented spirit of exchange. Reflecting the vast reach of these commercial networks, the two-humped Bactrian camel, as represented by the present lot, became the preferred beast of burden for overland caravans. Better adapted to the harsh terrain and extreme climates of Central Asia than its single-humped Arabian counterpart, the Bactrian camel was capable of carrying heavier loads over greater distances and thus played a vital role in facilitating long-distance trade between China and the West.

The results of the thermoluminescence testing are consistent with the suggested dating of this lot, Oxford Authentication sample No. C122c84 and C122c85, 2 March 2022.

Lot 95. A painted pottery recumbent camel and rider, Tang Dynasty; 45.7 cm long (black stand). Sold for US$21,760 © Bonhams 2026

The Bactrian camel modelled recumbent with its legs tucked beneath the body, the head raised and turned slightly to one side with bulging eyes, alert ears, and a textured mane extending down the neck, the rider dressed in a long-sleeved robe and wearing a wrapped cap, seated astride a draped saddle, his proper right arm raised and his left hand resting beside him, the body painted in ocher and black.

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. C126k9, 7 August 2026.

Lot 96. A straw-glazed pottery caparisoned horse, Sui Dynasty; 31.8cm across. Sold for US$9,600 © Bonhams 2026

The horse modelled standing foursquare on a rectangular plinth, the head lowered slightly beneath a neatly cropped upright mane, with alert ears, bulging eyes and a closed mouth, richly caparisoned with a fitted saddle secured by broad harness straps, the chest strap suspended with stylized tassels and bell-shaped pendants, the flanks draped with saddle cloths hanging from ring-shaped fittings, and the haunches embellished with moulded palmette ornaments, all covered in a pale cream glaze with traces of red and black pigment remaining on the saddle and trappings.

Provenance: Collection of Lillian and Ezekiel Schloss

Christie's New York, 21 March 2000, lot 264 (part lot)

Published: Ezekiel Schloss, Ancient Chinese Ceramic Sculpture from Han through Tang, Stamford, 1977, vol. I, p. 33, fig. 4

Exhibited: Hofstra Museum, Hofstra University, New York, Appeasing the Spirits, 14 February - 7 May 1993

College Art Gallery, State University of New York, Appeasing the Spirits, 9 October - 14 November 1993

Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, Santa Ana, California, Seeking Immortality: Chinese Tomb Sculpture from the Schloss Collection, 6 October 1996 - 16 March 1997

Bruce Museum, Greenwich, Conneticut, 20 September 1998 - 3 January 1999

Note : Compare a pair of similarly caparisoned horses illustrated by Robert D. Jacobsen, Celestial Horses & Long Sleeve Dancers: The David W. Dewey Collection of Ancient Chinese Tomb Sculptures, Minneapolis, 2013, pp. 152–153. Tombs yielding horses of this distinctive type have been excavated in Henan, Liaoning, and Anhui provinces. These horses represent an important stylistic transition between the more stylized equine sculptures of the Northern Qi dynasty and the increasingly naturalistic horses characteristic of the Tang period.

Lot 97. A green and amber-glazed pottery vase, Tang Dynasty; 14.4cm high. Sold for US$4,864 © Bonhams 2026

The compressed spherical body surmounting a small neck with angled mouth, covered with a translucent green glaze half-way down the vessel, a drip of amber-yellow glaze to one side, all supported on a short foot and flat base, the buff pottery body with fine texture.

Provenance: Blitz Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, Amsterdam, 3 April 2001

Collection of Bruce Dayton and Ruth Stricker Dayton

Sotheby's New York, 17-28 September 2021, lot 718

Lot 99. A sancai and blue-glazed globular jar, Tang Dynasty; 20cm high. Sold for US$5,376 © Bonhams 2026

Lively glazed with green, ocher, white and blue splashes, the large triangular panels and 'florets' ground executed with wax-resist technique, the short neck surmounting a rolled lip glazed ocher, the lower body and the shallow indented foot unglazed, revealing the buff pottery body.

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. C125k20, 8 July 2025

Lot 101. A sancai-glazed pottery shallow bowl, Tang Dynasty; 24.4cm diam. Sold for US$16,640 © Bonhams 2026

The floral medallion of green and ocher at the center surrounded by an ocher ground with wax-resisted spots, the interior wall with five freely painted half-circles of the same color scheme, the exterior wall glazed ocher-yellow half-way to the base, the buff body under earth encrustations.

Provenance:: The Alan and Simone Hartman Collection

Note : Compare the very similar sancai-glazed bowl in the collection of the Princeton University Art Museum, illustrated by Zoe S. Kwok in The Eternal Feast: Banqueting in Chinese Art from the 10th to the 14th Century, Princeton, 2019, pp. 114-115, cat. no. 18. Compare also the sancai-glazed bowl of this form and closely related decoration from the Alan and Simone Hartman Collection sold in these rooms, 17 March 2025, lot 91.

The results of the thermoluminescence testing are consistent with the suggested dating of this lot, Oxford Authentication sample No. C125k25, 8 July 2025.

Lot 107. A carved Yaozhou celadon petal-lobed bowl, Northern Song Dynasty; 10.8cm diam.; 6.5cm high. Sold for US$16,640 © Bonhams 2026

Finely carved on the exterior with a peony spray on each lobed panel, the deep-rounded body rising to a notched, everted rim, the interior with an indented base, all supported on a well-pared straight foot, covered inside and out with a light olive-green glaze pooling to darker tones at the recess, the underside partially glazed, revealing the buff porcelaneous body burnt orange.

Provenance: Penglai Shanfang Collection, Tainan, Taiwan

Connecticut Private Collection

Note : It is rare to find a carved Yaozhou bowl of this quality. The confident carving executed on a lobed body requires both control and artistic expression. The light, glossy celadon glaze is only seen on the best examples of its type.

A carved Yaozhou lobed saucer with similar peony sprays is illustrated in The Masterpieces of Yaozhou Ware, The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, 1997, p. 54, no. 70. A large and lobed Yaozhou bowl and a lobed Yaozhou ewer, both carved with similar floral decorations, are illustrated in the same catalog, pp. 28-29, nos. 29 and 30.

See also the carved Yaozhou bowl of larger size sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 3098.

Lot 111. A Cizhou white-glazed 'sgraffiato' vase, meiping, Northern Song Dynasty, Dengfeng ware; 31.2cm high. Sold for US$49,920 © Bonhams 2026

The ovoid body surmounting a short neck and rolled lip, decorated with horizontal registers of scrolling foliates, cloud heads, leafy stems, and overlapping lotus petals reserved on a ring-punched 'fish-roe' ground, the freely incised lines cutting through the creamy white slip, revealing the reddish-brown slip underneath and all under a clear glaze, the thick ring foot unglazed and enclosing a recessed base.

Provenance: From the Collection of Ambassador Charles B. Warren (1870-1936), according to label

Property from a Detroit Private Collection.

Note : Charles Beecher Warren, Ambassador to Japan (1920-1923) and Mexico (1924), had a distinguished career in law. He visited Korea, Manchuria, and Peking at the end of 1922 while serving as the Ambassador to Japan. At the young age of 26, he was made Associate Counsel for the United States in the appeal of a settlement of the Behring Sea against the Great Britain. Over a decade later, he was tasked in a similar case representing the United States on a border dispute of the New England coast. After served in the First World War, Warren contributed to war relief and won international decorations for his efforts. Warren had a long association with Detroit and resided in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, in his later years.

The present vase is a classic example of Dengfeng ware, produced in northern Henan province from the 10th to 12th century. Known for its elegant potting and sgraffiato lines over a white slip, the ring-punched 'fish roe' ground closely resembles Tang dynasty silver work. Compare the meiping vase of closely-related form and design in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, illustrated by Yutaka Mino, Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz'u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600, Indianapolis, 1980, pp. 60-61, pl. 18.

Lot 115. A Qingbai-glazed footed  censer, Northern Song Dynasty; 7cm high. Sold for US$5,376 © Bonhams 2026

The deep spherical bowl with straight sides and flat everted rim resting on a ribbed apron and stepped foot, covered inside and out with a translucent light-blue glaze, the underside unglazed revealing the fine white porcelain partly burnt russet-brown from firing.

Note : A similar Qingbai censer of slightly larger size, discovered from the tomb of Madam Hu dated to the seventh year of Yuanyou (1092), is illustrated by Liu Tao in Dated Ceramics of the Song, Liao and Jin Periods, Beijing, 2004, p. 104, no. 7-41.

Lot 118. A carved Longquan celadon 'foliate' bowl, Song Dynasty: 18 cm diam. Sold for US$7,680 © Bonhams 2026

The deep-rounded sides rising from the short ring foot to a notched rim, the interior decorated with two large foliate bundles within a double-ring border, the center medallion with a small leafy stem, the exterior with combed design, covered inside and out with a finely crackled translucent olive-green glaze pooling to deeper tones in the recess, the underside unglazed revealing the light gray porcelaneous body burnt orange from firing.

Provenance: Blitz Oriental Art, Amsterdam, 11 April 2000

Note Compare the Longquan bowl with very similar design inside and out, unearthed from Wenhuagong, lower Shugang, Yangzhou city, illustrated in Yangzhou City: Report on the Archaeological Excavation, 1987-1998, Beijing, 2010, col. pl. 134-1, with description on p. 188.

Lot 119. A black-glazed Jian tea bowl, Southern Song Dynasty, with stamped Gongyu mark; 12.4cm diam; 7.3cm high (Japanese wood box). Sold for US$14,080 © Bonhams 2026

The deep rounded sides rising to a slightly everted rim and with an indented 'finger groove' below the lip on the exterior, covered inside and out with a thick, lustrous black glaze, the glaze ending on the exterior where the sides are angled in, the lower sides and the small disc-shaped foot well-pared and unglazed, revealing the coarse dark-brown stoneware body, the underside of the foot with a stamped Gongyu mark.

Provenance: Penglai Shanfang Collection, Tainan, Taiwan

Connecticut Private Collection.

Note: A selection of Jian tea bowl marks was illustrated by Shi Jicheng, 'Zi zi zhu yu: Jianyao yinzhang kuanshi xiaoji' ('Characters as Gems: A Small Selection of Jianyao Stamped and Written Marks'), Zhonghua wenwu xuehui Annuals, Taipei, 2021, pp. 252-258, including a Jian shard with stamped Gongyu mark on p. 252, pl. 1.

A black-glazed Jian tea bowl with carved Gongyu mark was sold at Sotheby's Hong Kong, 4 December 2024, lot 9544.

Lot 120. Property from The collection of Erland and Eleanor Heginbotham. A large Longquan celadon 'Peony' charger, Early Ming Dynasty, 15th century; 48.6 cm diameter. Sold for US$10,880 © Bonhams 2026

Heavily potted with deep rounded sides and rolled lip, the center medallion freely carved with a single spray of blossoming peony, the interior wall further decorated with four peony sprays within line borders, all resting on a short ring foot and gently convex base, covered inside and out with a bluish-green glaze, the glaze at the base scraped away in a ring shape to receive the kiln support, revealing the light-gray body burnt reddish-brown during firing.

Provenance: From the collection of Erland and Eleanor Heginbotham, purchased between 1971 and 1975 while living in Jakarta, Indonesia, where Erland served as a Foreign Service Officer at the U.S. Embassy, then by descent.

Note : In the 14th/15th century, Longquan chargers of this large size with boldly carved floral sprays were predominately made for diplomatic gifts from the Ming Court and for export trades. The best examples were commissioned and treasured by the Ottoman Court in present day Istanbul. Compare the large Longquan charger sold at Sotheby's New York, 20 March 2024, lot 148, described as Yongle period.

Bonhams. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, New York, 14 September 2026