A rare russet-splashed black-glazed vase, meiping. Northern Song dynasty, 11th/&éth century

Of Cizhou type, the broad-shouldered, tapering body surmounted by a short neck flaring slightly towards the flat, everted rim with raised outer edge, covered overall with a lustrous blackish-brown glaze liberally splashed with russet-brown "partridge feather mottles" ending in an irregular line just above the base to expose the fine-grained pale grey ware, the base and inside wall of the foot covered in a thinner dark brown glaze - 8 3/8 in. (21.3 cm.) high, box - Estimate: $40,000 - $60,000

Provenance : Acquired in Hong Kong in 1995.

Notes : A meiping from the Art Institute of Chicago, which is similarly glazed and has a flat, everted mouth rim, is illustrated by R. Mowry in Hare's Fur, Tortoiseshell, and Partridge Feathers: Chinese Brown- and Black-Glazed Ceramics, 400-1400, Harvard University Art Museums, 1996, no. 35. The Chicago meiping is taller and has a more elongated profile than the current bottle. In his discussion of the russet markings the author notes that the "term, zhegu ban (partridge-feather mottles) appears in texts of the mid-tenth century to describe ceramics with mottled decoration." He further notes that the larger "partridge-feather mottles", of the type seen on both meiping, "began to appear in dark-glazed Cizhou-type wares in the eleventh century".

Christie's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 17 September 2008. New York, Rockefeller Plaza. www.christies.com