A sancai-glazed pottery 'Dragon' ewer, Liao dynasty. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Photo Sotheby's.

of flattened spherical form surmounted by an everted lotus leaf-form mouth with foliate rim, applied at the shoulder with a short spout, a small arched ring handle and strap handle all molded with foliate scrolls, the body crisply molded to either side with a lively amber-glazed winged rampant dragon amidst  green-glazed roiling waves and encircled by a double band of small amber-glazed bosses, all above a lotus lappet band encircling the base, the vibrant glaze falling short of the splayed foot, left unglazed for firing, Japanese wood box. Height 7 in., 17.7 cm

Provenance: Sotheby's London, 13th July 2005, lot 125.

Notes: Liao pottery flasks of this shape are rare although one also with amber and green glazes only but lacking the funnel-shaped mouth, in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, is illustrated in Zhongguo taoci quanji, vol. 9, Shanghai, 2000, pl. 119. See another of this form similarly decorated with a dragon design but in amber, green and transparent glazes included inThe Tsui Museum of Art, Chinese Ceramics I, Neolithic to Liao, Hong Kong, 1993, pl. 154. Other examples of this form may be seen at the San Antonio Museum of Art, Texas. A related ewer of spherical form but molded with similar dragon and lotus theme from the Museum of Chifeng City was exhibited and illustrated in "Gilded Splendor, Treasures of China's Liao Empire", Asia Society, New York, 2006, Catalogue, p. 312, no. 91 where the author discusses the iconography suggesting a Buddhist connection.

Sotheby's. Chinese Art through the Eye of Sakamoto Gor – Ceramics, New York, 17 mars 2015, 10:00 AM