Lot 31. A rare 'Cizhou' carved vase, Northern Song dynasty (960-1127); 39.5cm., 15 1/2 in. Estimate 120,000 - 180,000 GBP. Lot sold 146,500 GBP. Photo Sotheby's 2013

the well-potted baluster body with a the tall waisted neck flaring widely at the mouth to a dished rim, deeply carved through the creamy-white slip into the straw-coloured ware with a wide band of peony blooms borne on undulating leafy stems, all between overlapping lappets around the shoulder and foot, applied overall with a thin ivory glaze.

Provenance: Christie's New York, 5th June 1986, lot 158.
Collection of Walter Hochstadter.
Christie's New York, 19th March 2009, lot 508.

Note: The present magnificent vase belongs to a very small group of Cizhou wares decorated in this high relief sculptural style of carving, which can be traced to the Quhe kilns in Dengfeng county in Henan province. The group is discussed in Yutaka Mino, Freedom of Clay and Brush through Seven Centuries in Northern China: Tz’u-chou Type Wares, 960-1600 A.D., Indianapolis, 1981, p. 42. While very few vases of this type are known, two other of similar shape and carved decoration may be found, one in the Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., published ibid., p. 42, fig. 14, and in Sekai toji zenshu, vol. 12, Tokyo, 1977, pp.110-11, pl. 109; and the other in the collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, from the Charles B. Hoyt collection, included amongst ‘Four Famous Masterpieces’ in Oriental Ceramics. The World’s Great Collections, vol. 10, Tokyo, New York and San Francisco, 1980, col. pl. 11. The Freer vase is possibly the closest in form and decoration to this piece, although the body is slightly more rounded and the mouth sharply edged as if it is meant to hold a cover. The decoration is executed in a very similar style of carving with the floral scroll deeply fashioned with delicate incised lines that provide a three-dimensional feel to the petals and leaves. The Hoyt vase is also decorated with a large peony band around the widest part of the body, however, in a different style to that seen on this and the Freer vase. Another difference is in the decoration of the shoulder, which is painted with large clouds rather than a carved motif as seen here. The Hoyt vase also has a slightly longer and wider neck that ends in a similar funnel-shape mouth.

Belonging to this special group of Cizhou wares are vases decorated in a similar manner but of different shape; the body of elongated ovoid form rather than the baluster shape. See a vase formerly also in the  Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, sold in these rooms, 12th December 1989, lot 81, from the British Rail Pension Fund, and again in our Hong Kong rooms, 5thNovember 1997, lot 1360 (fig. 1). This vase is illustrated in a number of publications, including Mino, op.cit., fig. 17; and in Margaret Medley, ‘Sgraffiato and painting in Tz’u-chou Wares’, Decorative Techniques and Styles in Asian Ceramics, Colloquies on Art and Archaeology in Asia, Percival David Foundation of Chinese Art, London, 1978, p. 66, pl. 2a. A close companion, one of similar ovoid-shape and design, in the Indianapolis Museum of Art, was included in the Museum’s exhibition Beauty and Tranquility: The Eli Lilly Collection of Chinese Art, Indianapolis, 1983, pl. 67, and illustrated in colour, p. 28; and a third example, in the Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minneapolis, is published in Toki zenshu, vol. 13, Tokyo, 1966, pl. 4.

A 'Cizhou' carved vase, Northern Song dynasty, Sotheby's London, 12th december 1989, lot 81.

Beside these vases with tall neck and dish-shaped mouth, ewers, small jars and pillows are also known of this type of ware, all being equally rare. Compare a small jar in the collection of Brian McElney, published in Inaugural Exhibition, vol. 1, The Museum of East Asian Art, Bath, 1993, cat. no. 56, also illustrated on the title page and dust jacket; and ewers and pillows included in Mino, op.cit., pp. 44-7 and pp.52-3.

The result of Oxford Authentication thermoluminescence test no.P208b16 is consistent with the dating of this lot.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. Londo, 15 may 2013