Lot 8. An unusual white stoneware flask in the form of a leather pouch, Liao Dynasty, 10th Century; 23.3cm., 9 1/8 in. Estimate 15,000—20,000 GBP. Lot Sold 33,650 GBP. Photo Sotheby's 2011

the lower part of oval section, the upper part terminating in a flat bracket-lobed flange and tubular spout with everted lip, the flange enclosed by a raised border and pierced with a hole surrounded by an incised heart-shaped motif, the narrow sides outlined by applied bands of clay to simulate sewn gussets, the near-white stoneware covered with a white slip and a transparent ivory-tinged glaze, leaving the flat base exposed in the biscuit; in Japanese padded purple silk cloth, ribbon-tied paulownia-wood box and cover, and brown cotton furoshiki with inscribed wooden tag.

Provenance: Idemitsu Museum of Art, Tokyo.

Exhibited: Sō ji [Song ceramics], Tobu Museum of Art, Tokyo; The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka; Hagi Uragami Museum, Hagi; 1999, cat. no. 114.

Note: This flask, which is very unusual in its angular shape and its fine 'Ding'-type material may have been made at the Longquanwu kilns, Beijing, which were renowned for their high-quality white stonewares in the 'Ding' tradition. Flasks of this accomplished workmanship have been found in royal Liao tombs, and a very similar square flask has been excavated, together with more rounded one, from a royal tomb datable to AD 959 at Chifeng, Inner Mongolia; see Liu Tao, Song Liao Jin jinian ciqi/Dated Ceramics of the Song, Liao and Jin Periods, Beijing, 2004, p. 68, fig. 4-7, and col. pl. 25.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art, 11 May 11, London